A Finnish club set the world record on Friday for the longest karaoke session of 216 hours, with the participants vowing to keep going and set a new watershed mark of several weeks.
“The official from the Guinness Book of World Records has given us a certificate and the record is now held by Kouvola Karaoke Club and Finland,” Arto Nikunen, the president of the club, said when the marathon had lasted for 216 hours.
The previous record of 214 hours was held by a club in China.
Last year, Kouvola, a small town about 135km north-east of Helsinki, went head to head in an intense karaoke battle with its Chinese rival, when the two sides kept breaking each other’s records.
Nikunen’s club held the record for just six days last August and this time it wants to avoid a similar disappointment. It has increased the number of karaoke machines to six from two and is even prepared for power failures.
“We want to hold the record for longer than six days like we did last year. We want to make a hefty record, so it would be difficult to break it,” said Nikunen, whose new favourite karaoke song is The Beatles’ Let It Be.
Kouvola’s goal is to reach 600 hours of non-stop karaoke singing, which would be reached on July 27. — AFP