Kenyan trumpeter Mackinlay Mutsembi has broken the world record for the longest continuous trumpet performance. He played the trumpet non-stop for a record 24 hours.
He started his performance on Friday, January 31, at Nairobi’s Geco Café and finished on Saturday, February 1, at 10pm. He began on Friday at 8pm but he made a mistake while resting and went over by 7 seconds which meant that he had to start again.
The Guinness World Record rules state that he can rest for 5 minutes after a 1 hour performance, 10 minutes after 2 hours and 20 minutes after 4 hours.
Mackinlay Mutsembi is a renowned Kenyan trumpeter and music producer. He is the founder of the Nairobi Horns Project, Afrolect Jazz, and the Afrolect Academy.
The trumpet blowing was divided into six different sets comprising of a mixture of jazz, afro-jazz, R&B, pop and soul, jazz fusion, originals, African music, and a celebration of Kenyan music. The crowd really loved the Kenyan music. Kasongo was also a fan favourite and if you are a Kenyan you know why. There was a suggestion from the crowd that he should have ended the set with the Kenyan national anthem but that’s for another day.
Kenyans came out in large numbers to support him and all of us hope that his record is ratified. It would be a testament to a truly great musician.