Afua Asantewaa Aduonum finished her singing marathon last Thursday, having begun it on December 24, 2023, for 126 hours and 52 minutes. Her goal was to surpass the 11-year-old Guinness World Record set by the Indian, Sunil Waghmare.
Many Ghanaians are eager for Guinness World Records to either disqualify her or name her the new Sing-A-Thon world champion in light of her incredible achievement.
But regrettably, unless Afua Aduonum pays GHC 7,792 to Guinness World Records for Priority Evidence Review, we will all have to wait for at least 13 weeks.
“Once you have completed the record attempt and submitted your evidence, you can purchase our Priority Evidence Review service. You will jump the queue and find out the outcome of your record attempt sooner,” they say on their website.
Applicants would have to pay £350, or $650 or €440 GHC 7,792 (plus VAT where applicable) for Priority Evidence Review service for existing titles.
“It’s fast: After we have received all your evidence, it will be reviewed within five working days (as opposed to the usual 12 weeks),” they added.
“It’s worth it if you can’t wait 12 weeks to find out if you are Officially Amazing,”they added.
Initially, when Aduonum announced her attempt to break the individual Guinness World Record for the longest singing marathon, many assumed it was a joke.
But as the attempt gathered momentum, and traditional and social media spread the news, interest in the attempt heightened and many trooped to the venue at the Akwaaba Village in Accra to see and hear her sing.
With 126 hours, Aduonum hopes to surpass Waghmare’s 2012 record. Waghmare spent 105 hours singing.
Aduonum’s medical support team advised her to end her attempt around 7:00 am on December 29, 2023, as they were concerned about the amount of stress her body could withstand. She had planned to continue until noon on December 24 in Accra.
Although her supporters are hopeful that she will break the record because she sang for many hours longer than the existing record, the Guinness World Records review team is the only one who can make that determination after she submits her attempt.
The organisation has an elaborate requirement for submitting attempts, and applicants would have to strictly follow the rules, failure to follow the step-by-step process of submission could result in a rejection.
And according to Guinness World Records, standard reviews take 12 weeks to conclude, but applicants can choose priority review which takes five working days, but comes at a cost.
Meanwhile, as revealed by Afua during an interview on UTV last night, she’s yet to submit her attempt because her team is putting the evidence together.
Hopefully, she and her team will submit the attempt next week and they will be making a standard submission.
Once Guinness World Records receives the attempt, it would take another 12 weeks before their decision is known.
