As the clock ticked 6.01 pm on Sunday, thousands of people who had gathered to witness the feat that would figure in the Guinness World Record - for the world’s longest singing marathon (40 hours) by multiple singers - cheered loudly and gave a standing ovation. The cheering and applause continued for some time.

The reason: Mandd Sobhann, the premier Konkani cultural organisation, had surpassed the existing record of 36 hours set on July 3 and 4 in 2004, by a group “Communidade Evangelica Luterana Sao Paulo” of Ulbra in Brazil.
At 6 pm, members of the “Jeri Meri” troupe from Mumbai (the 39th troupe) were singing.

The Mandd Sobhann singers had started the feat at 6 am on Saturday at Kalaangann, the world’s only Konkani heritage centre, near Shakthinagar on the outskirts of Mangalore.

Though the record has been set, the feat continued till 10 pm to complete 40 hours of marathon singing. In fact, the new Guinness Record from Mangalore includes “40 hours of singing by multiple singers comprising about 1,711 singers (44 troupes) with 645 songs” — thus taking Konkani to newer heights.

Foolproof

To make the event and record foolproof, a logbook was maintained wherein every song and the time taken for the break has been recorded.

The entire event has been witnessed by eminent personalities of the society - two different people for every four hours. Besides a camera has recorded the whole event every second with an electronic camera in the frame.
Though the rule stated that a singer may come back to stage after a gap of four hours, the organisers planned in such a way that no singer stepped on the stage for the second time and each troupe sing for approximately 60 minutes with only a gap of 15 seconds (rule permits 30 seconds).
The feat began with the SRA sisters in Vamanjoor and concluded with a performance by the Mandd Sobhann troupe.

New record

At 11 pm, Mr Keith Pullin, Adjudicator for Guinness World Records, who had come from London, declared that the Mandd Sobhann had achieved the feat and handed over the Guinness certificate amidst a cheering crowd.
 Thousands of people including the young and old, priests and nuns began to celebrate. The people gathered there began to light fireworks, and danced with joy.

Ryan’s International Educational Institutions (Mumbai) chief Grace Pinto was the chief guest on the occasion.
NRI entrepreneur and philanthropist Ronald Colaco, and Sri Krishna Dairy Pvt Ltd Managing Director Pradeep G Pai were the guests of honour.