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Afua Asantewaa Owusu Aduonum, a Ghanaian entrepreneur, has attempted to set a world record for nonstop singing. She began her’sing-a-thon’ on Christmas Eve in Accra, West Africa’s capital, and completed on Friday, performing for 126 hours and 52 minutes.
Asantewaa performed nonstop for five days, receiving great support from Ghanaians, including former President John Dramani Mahama and current Vice President Mahamadu Bawumia, both of whom are seeking for the country’s highest office in the 2024 elections.
She is said to have dethroned India’s Sunil Waghmare, who has held the record since 2012, when he sung for 105 hours. Asantewaa, unlike Waghmare, is not a professional singer, and some Ghanaians on social media doubted her ability to pull off her feat when she started the sing-a-thon challenge. However, she was reportedly able to unofficially surpass the record holder’s time by an additional 21 hours.
Guinness World Records (GWR) responded to a Facebook comment informing them to Asantewaa’s completion of her attempt on Friday, describing the event as “certainly seems to have captured the public’s imagination.”
It also noted that its judges “look forward to receiving evidence” to evaluate whether Asantewaa set a record for the longest individual singing challenge.
Ghana’s efforts to attract more tourists and showcase its culture, particularly music, coincided with Asantewaa’s initiative. The government launched a visa-on-arrival programme earlier this month for tourists visiting the former British colony for the Christmas and New Year holidays as part of its 10-year ‘Beyond the Return’ campaign, which aims to encourage members of the African diaspora to explore and reconnect with Ghana.
The Ghana tourist Authority (GTA) designated the 33-year-old entrepreneur as its tourist ambassador over the weekend as a prize for “putting the spotlight” on Africa’s greatest gold producer, which, according to the Global Peace Index, is one of the most peaceful countries on the continent.
“This gives her enough responsibility to work closely with us to project the country and market it domestically and internationally.” This is a tremendous accomplishment for the country. “It is critical to capitalise on Afua Asantewaa’s personality,” Kofi Atta Kakra Kusi, Deputy Head of Corporate Affairs at the GTA, told JoyNews.
Meanwhile, Ghanaian culinary artist Faila Abdul Razak began a cooking marathon on Monday at midnight with the goal of breaking the world record.
