Guinness World Record with 333 bagpipes organized by the Art of Living

Guinness approved the Bulgarian attempt of the Art of Living for a world record with 333 kaba bagpipes!
Now Bulgaria is officially the first country to set a Guinness World Record with bagpipes!

The attempt to set a Guinness World Record took place on May 16 (Wednesday) in Hall 1 of the National Palace of Culture, and the organizer of the grand event was the international non-governmental humanitarian organization The Art of Living. With activities in over 155 countries, the international foundation The Art of Living is the largest volunteer organization in the world.

The inspiration for organizing a world record was the second visit of the founder of The Art of Living - Sri Sri Ravi Shankar to Bulgaria.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is not only a peace activist, but also a humanitarian leader. Three times nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, winner of countless literary awards, professor and doctor Honoris Causa of over 10 universities around the world. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar does not stop traveling to the problem areas of the planet, helping people in distress and moving between points of military conflicts from Kosovo to Iraq and Kashmir. The practices of the Art of Living that Sri Sri Ravi Shankar teaches do not only include meditation and yoga, he has developed a breathing system that clears stress and toxins on a physical level. An important part of his courses, in addition to physical exercises, is the constant experience of living in the present. In May 2012 alone, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar visited 14 countries, in which 20 cities.

The Art of Living Foundation is known for its cultural and humanitarian initiatives worldwide.

The Art of Living organized a similar large event last year at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin - the World Festival of Culture , on the occasion of its 30th anniversary, where, in addition to the St. Petersburg Ballet and other international performances, nearly 2,000 people from Bulgaria held hands and danced a straight horo to the musical accompaniment of the songs "Izlel e Delyo haidutin", "Voda" and "Pustono ludo i mlado" performed by Elitsa Todorova.

Internationally, the Art of Living Foundation holds 10 Guinness World Records, the most impressive of which is the record for the largest musical choir in the world, where 121,440 people ( one hundred twenty-one thousand, four hundred and forty people ) sang in unison for 5 minutes at an event organized in Perungalathur, Chennai, India on January 30, 2011.

Another extraordinary record organized by the Art of Living is for the world's largest buffet with a total of 5,612 different dishes at an event held at Sri Sri Dham, Ahmedabad, India on November 2, 2010.

See other Art of Living world records here .

The event on May 16th started with the beloved Bulgarian song “A Bulgarian Rose” in the beautiful musical performance of Desi Dobreva as a special greeting to Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. The host of the evening was Iva Doychinova. During the event, the Art of Living Foundation “Humanity” awarded Sri Sri Ravi Shankar with an honorary plaque.

The Bulgarian kaba bagpipe is the most characteristic and popular musical instrument in the Rhodope Mountains. It sounds at gatherings and gatherings, happy and sad days in the lives of Rhodopean people from ancient times to the present day, and on May 16, as many as 333 bagpipers filled Hall 1 of the National Palace of Culture in a wonderful celebration.

After being welcomed extremely warmly by the audience of many thousands, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar shared his vision for a better and more peaceful world, starting with his impressions of our country:

"It is so wonderful to be with all of you here in the land of roses. Last year in July, when we had the World Culture Festival, the most impressive was the Bulgarian group that traveled 30 hours to Berlin and 3,000 people performed such a magnificent performance - horo. This is what we need. We are in the era of technology. Technology has turned the globe into a global village. We are in a global village. I would like to see it as a global family. This is my dream: the world as a global family. We are extremely happy that the world has so many cultures, diverse traditions, languages ​​and religions.
(...)
This is my second visit to Bulgaria. I already see many changes here. The infrastructure is developing, the economy has become better than before; it can be even better. At the same time, I would say that you have your deep roots, thousands of years of culture and traditions. Don't lose that. Young people need to keep their roots and expand their vision. So, "That's why we are saying that we will have a big bagpipe performance today. The purpose of this is to promote the old traditions and culture.
I would also like to mention that some of the Bulgarian singers and dancers also visited India and did their performances in India as well."

Watch the entire video of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's lecture during the Art of Living event on May 16 in Hall 1 of the National Palace of Culture here ( in HD quality ) .

After the spectacular nearly 10-minute performance by the bagpipers, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, the founder of the Art of Living, presented four special international awards for human values ​​- "Human Values ​​Award", with which he awarded four prominent Bulgarians who have contributed greatly to our society. These are Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO, Yordanka Fandakova, Mayor of Sofia, Yoana Tomova, Manager of the Publishing House "Prosveta" and the Publishing House "Prozorets", and Daniela Kaneva, the well-known Bulgarian journalist.

Photos from the entire event The Art of Living on May 16 can be found here ( the photos can be downloaded ).

You can view unique panoramic photos (with sound) by Georgi Palov and Ivo Hristov here.

For more information, you can contact The Art of Living at 0899 17 20 15 .