Singing 10 Songs without Moving Lips

Believe it or not, Malin Medhi, a marginal farmer from Balapara Chuba in Assam’s Nalbari District, has the ability tosing 10 songs on trot that too without opening his lips!
Malin Medhi started singing in this fashion about 19 years ago but regrets failing to gain popularity for his feat despite being touching 28. years of age.

Today, he can sing melodies of famous Assamese singer Bhupen Hazarika to the pop style of Zubin Garg of “Ya Ali” fame. But his wish is to find a place in the Limca as well as Guinness Book of World Records.

Malin Medhi has opted a style that is never preferred by singers.

Though many may wonder as to how Malin can sing with his closed mouth, it is to be noted that he has an long tongue and this could be helping him.

He complains about not getting enough time to develop his ability, as he has to stay back at home and look after his farming. He, however, has kept his passion alive and rehearses regularly whenever he gets any chance.

"I don't practice the entire day, that's not possible for me because I have to take care of my family also. So when I get time, I practice. I pray to the skies," said Malin Medhi, of Balapara Chuba in Nalbari in Assam.

He considers himself lucky enough to get support of his fellow villagers and friends who have always lent him their support and encouraged him.

"We feel the difference that he is different from other singers. Other singers sing by opening their mouth but only Malin can sing with his closed mouth. Only Malin is the person in the whole world who can sing like this. One day he will become a famous personality and people all across the world will know him," said Pradip Kalita, a musician.

Malin has already staged several successful programmes including an exclusive show telecast by national television channel Doordarshan Kendra of Guwahati. (ANI)

Non Stop 40 hours Konkani Song World Records India

AN INDIAN language, Konkani, has found its way into the record books. Thanks to the Konkani Nirantari team and Mandd Sobhann, which successfully sang non-stop Konkani songs for 40 hours in the coastal city of Mangalore in the Indian state of Karnataka, the non-stop signing has found its way into the Guinness Book of World Records.

The feat was finally accomplished on Sunday night at 10 pm. A total of 1,711 singers and 44 groups were involved in the feat. The groups sang 645 Konkani songs non-stop and broke the record held by Brazil. The participants were from the states of Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka and Goa.

The marathon exercise began at 6 am on January 26, 2008 and ended at 10 pm on January 27, 2008. The record for the "World’s Longest Singing Marathon by Multiple Singers” was previously held by a group from Ulbra, Brazil, called "Communidade Evangelica Luterana Sao Paulo". It sang for 36 hours during July 3-4, 2004. Keith Pullin, representative of the Guinness Book of World Records, officially handed over the Guinness World Record Certificate. He also handed over a leather-bound copy of The Guinness Book of World Records to the organisers.

This is the 974th record from India, which has found its way into the Guinness Book of World Records. "There have been approximately around 973 records from India or relating to India; which have found their way into the Guinness record", says Pullin.

"The Kalangan Amphitheatre, the venue of the record-breaking event, erupted in a triumphant chorus of whistles, loud applause and congratulations", says Roshan De Souza, a US-based Mangalorean and the moderator of the website, The website, www.mangalorean.com, provided regular updates during the entire 40-hour-long singing. Konkani as a language is spoken by people who live or have lived along the Konkan belt. The region is spread over four states, Goa, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Kerala.

"The recent world record should unite all Konkani-speaking people across India and the world. The language now has unified on the world stage", says Malwin De Souza, a Goan, based in Cayman Islands.

Konkani is the official language of Goa. But there have been differences over the script, the Roman and Devnagiri in Goa. The Goan government has accorded official recognition to the Devanagiri script, leaving the Roman script users to fend for themselves. The differences over the scripts are not restricted to Goa but spread across Kerala and Karnataka. People in Kerala write the language using the Malayalam script and people in Karnataka use the Kannada script for the purpose.