Jagjit Singh sets new World Record by playing tabla 4 over 101 hours continuously

(By my brother)
"The beat went on. And on and on and on.

Jagjit Singh Batalvi tapped his way into the record books yesterday, fingering his tabla, an Indian percussion instrument, for a fifth straight day. Fuelled by soups, fresh fruit juices and four-minute yoga meditation sessions every 10 hours, the Brampton man now unofficially holds the Guinness World Record for the individual drumming marathon.

When Batalvi eclipsed the previous mark of 101 hours at mid-afternoon, dozens of people in a room attached to the Shiromani Sikh temple in Mississauga let out a cheer led by men in traditional dress holding ceremonial kirpans, or daggers. Outside, handfuls of yellow and saffron-coloured balloons were released into the sky.

On a specially built podium, Batalvi sat expressionless as clocks reached the 2 p.m. milestone.
"I'm very relieved," said Batalvi, who intended to play until 11 p.m. – 110 hours since starting Wednesday. "I hope this will be an inspiration to all the youth all over the world that you can achieve anything you want if you put your mind to it."

Batalvi, 29, came to Canada from the Punjab about eight years ago. Trained in India by Ustad Alla Rakha and Ustad Zakir Hussain, he now teaches tabla in Canada.

Organizers said his feat, which must be verified by Guinness World Records, tops a record of 101 hours set in 2005."

Extract taken from one of Canada's newspaper website.