December 28th, 2024, will go down in the history books as the day Joshua Regrello, also known as ‘De Pan Man,’ got one giant step closer to officially setting two Guinness World Records: The Longest Marathon Playing Steelpan and the Longest Marathon Playing a Chrome Musical Instrument of Trinidad and Tobago.
Regrello embarked on the journey to set the Guinness World Record for the Longest Marathon Playing Steelpan by playing continuously for thirty hours on December 27th, 2024.
On December 28th, thousands tuned in online, hailing from every corner of Trinidad and Tobago. Our Caribbean neighbours, from as near as St. Vincent and Guyana, and as far as the US, Canada, and London, were all tuned in to celebrate as we counted down to the 30-hour mark.
Perhaps energised by David Rudder’s High Mas, Regrello continued playing, shifting his record-setting goal by another hour, and the fans stayed on.
At the 31st-hour mark, Regrello honoured his fans’ request by closing with the National Anthem as his final selection.
Finally, mustering whatever energy he had left, he thanked God, family, and his supporters, but especially the independent witnesses from the TTFA, TTPS, Fire Service, and the Ministries of Tourism, Culture and the Arts, and Youth Development and National Service, who made it all possible.
“These are really objective people who have no reason, and they had to endure hours of pan. So I just want to, in this moment, just single out these witnesses and just say thank you to all of you, not just you but everybody else from the organisation. Thank you for being a part of this. Literally, the one thing we need to make this validated by Guinness is independent witnesses. So, this doesn’t mean that we are actually in Guinness, we then have to submit evidence, but we could not do that without the witnessing and sending evidence. So, big shouts to all the witnesses and the organisations for sending you all on short notice.”
As we wait for the official recognition by the Guinness World Records, the unity, energy, and ‘pandemonium’ of De Pan Man’s endeavour is already a win for culture and the national treasure that is the steelpan.