Shillong has strummed ahead of Kansas City. But London too is set to twang in soon to eclipse the just-earned fame of the cloud-kissed capital of Meghalaya.

Altogether 1730 guitarists – professionals, amateurs and even novices – from across the north eastern states gathered in the picturesque hill-town on Friday and played Bob Dylan’s classic Knocking on Heaven’s Doors. They also knocked on the door of the Guinness World Records (GWR) with a request to recognise their feat as the largest among all guitar ensembles held on the earth so far. “Ours was the largest guitar ensemble in the history of the world,” said the vice-president of the Meghalaya Tourism Development Forum (MTDF), Larsing Ming Sawian.
The MTDF organised the guitar-ensemble to kick off the annual autumn festival.

The current Guinness World Record is held by a guitar-ensemble that was held at Kansas City on June 3. A local radio-station, KYYS in Mission, brought together 1683 guitarists, who played Deep Purple’s Smoke on the Water and beat an earlier record of 1994. “We will have to send audio-visual recordings of the event to the GWR headquarters in London in support of our claim,” Mr Sawian said.

But what worries the MTDF officials is that another record-breaking attempt would possibly be made in London soon.“We have come to know that there would be another guitar ensemble in London early next month,” said Akib Zaman of Sur Sandhan, a local NGO that helped the MTDF organise the guitar ensemble on Friday.
The influential Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) and other social organisations had called upon students and youths to join the ensemble with their guitars.