Music can often be the catalyst for bringing people together, and that was very much the case during a successful attempt by Rupam Sarmah and his team at the world record for most instruments used in a piece of music recently in the far eastern region of Assam in India.

Playing a piece composed and directed by Rupam Sarmah, an international award-winning film and music director based in California, USA, an incredible 315 different instruments were used to play the symphony, with a total of 476 performers on stage during the attempt in the city of Jorhat.

Musicians gathered from all over the world for the history-making concert on February 24th to play the piece which lasted for over half an hour.

In order for the attempt to be successful there had to be more than 181 different instruments in the ensemble to beat the existing record that had been set in Japan.

The symphony, which was written as a message for world peace, included a variety of different styles of music from world folk, classical, jazz, Bihu, Borgeet, Jhumur, Latino, and Irish, with the lyrics for the piece featuring passages in Assamese, English, Hindi, Sanskrit, and Bengali.

The grand conclusion to the piece was met with a standing ovation from the gathered audience of over 25,000.

Commenting on the new world record following the performance, a delighted Rupam, who originally hails from Jorhat, said: “When the dreams of a person resembles those of another and the number grows in such a way, only then this type of a unique event can be organised”.