It was a day of celebration for Kadalundi, a tiny hamlet near Calicut, when Sudheer, a tabla player from this village created a world record for a marathon 56 hour performance. The programme was held in January at an outdoor stage near Kadalundi railway station. On the third day after he started, Sudheer emerged victorious with a smiling face and walked into the pages of the Guinness Book of World Records. He broke the record held by Prasad Choudhury from Maharashtra, who had played for 46 hours non stop. After breaking the world record, Sudheer continued his performance for another ten hours.

The programme was meticulously planned keeping the Guinness rules in mind. Though the Guinness authorities fixed the time and date, the venue was his own choice. A 15-minute break is allowed after every eight hours. Prescribed minimum length of a rhythm is two minutes and the same rhythm cannot be repeated within four hours.

Sudheer began with teental and slowly gathered pace with varying range of rhythms like keherva, dadara, and deepchandi. More than a dozen well-known artists, including the famous playback singer G Venugopal, were at the venue.

A mammoth crowd, chanting and dancing to his tunes, was present to witness the historic moment when he crossed the previous record. He continued tapping on his favourite instrument and finally concluded the show in the evening with a solo in keherva, setting a new record of 56 hours.

A videographer by profession, Sudheer developed a keen interest in tabla when he was five. As a child, he used to participate in weekly bhajans conducted at his mother’s house. He later trained professionally under Karmachandran and Ayyappnashan.

In 1991, he led a group of artistes from Kanyakumari to Gokarnam, along with the Malayalam poet Akkitham to spread the message of communal harmony. His first marathon performance was in 2003 at Calicut setting a personal record of 10 hours. In 2004 he played for 13 hours without a break. These two attempts gave him the confidence to attempt a new world record. He did it with the programme ‘Talalaya 2005’ which was dedicated to world peace.

Sudheer does not want to be a professional tabla player. “It is a gift of god and I do not want to sell it”, he says. He believes that the overwhelming support extended by the villagers helped him to keep the tempo for such a long time. People celebrated his concert like a local festival and cheered him on. I owe my success to this village and its people,” says Sudheer.

(First published in 17, April 2005. The New Indian Express)