Akwa Ibom Christmas Carols Festival
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The Akwa Ibom Christmas Carols Festival is the largest gathering of carol singers in the world. This record was officially certified by the Guinness World Records on Saturday, December 13, 2014 in a concert featuring 25,272 carol singers at the Akwa Ibom Stadium, Uyo, Akwa Ibom, Nigeria with Guinness World Records representatives in attendance, against a former record of 15,674 carol singers which was achieved the previous year (December 15, 2013) by a group called CENTI in Bogotá, Colombia.
The Akwa Ibom Christmas Carols Festival features local and international artistes and has remained a great worship experience, exuding an ambience of bliss and serenity in and around the event venue and leaving a lingering nostalgia long after each edition which routinely gets bigger than the previous.
History
In the 2011 edition, Akwa Ibom Christmas Carols made history when it featured a 9,999 member choir, which was reputed to be the largest choir in the world at that time. The Akwa Ibom Christmas Carols - an evening of praise, worship, love and unity, apart from being a record-breaking gathering of Carol Singers, has become a major avenue of promoting spiritual growth, peaceful coexistence among ethnic, religious and cultural groups in the State and spiritual tourism that attracts people from around the world.
2008 - 2011 Edition
The official attempt to make history as the Largest Assembly of Carol Singers in the world started with 9,300 carol singers in 2008 and the following years featured same number of singers till 2011 where an exact number of 9,999 singers was recorded. From 2009, the events featured the Abuja Metropolitan Music Society (AMEMUSO), the Winneba International Youth Choir from Ghana and the Soweto Spiritual Singers of South Africa consecutively with an increasing number of attendants year after year.
2012 - 2013 Edition
2012 edition featured great artistes like Alvin Slaughter and Donnie McClurkin from USA, an international choir performance by the Chorale Devine de Merveilles of the Republic of Congo. 2013 edition had Bishop Oyedepo of Living Faith Church Worldwide (Winners' Chapel) and USA born human rights activist, Rev. Jesse Jackson in attendance and featured an international choir performance by the National Choir of the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis, international singers like Lionel Peterson, Israel Houghton and great Nigerian singers like Bongos Ikwue, Frank Edwards, Nathaniel Bassey, Aity Dennis Inyang, Fadabasi and many more.
2014 Edition
In 2014, this event broke a Guinness World Record to become the “Largest Assembly of Carol Singers on the Face of the Earth”. In attendance were Don Moen, international gospel music composer, Cardinal John Onaiyekan of Abuja Catholic Diocese and many prominent persons. The event featured special performances by Quartets from the five international choirs that performed in past editions. Also performing were gospel saxophonist Angela Christie, Lionel Peterson, Sinach and many more.
2015 Edition
In 2015, the event initially known as “9999 carols night” was officially renamed “Akwa Ibom Christmas Carols”. In attendance were Bishop Mike Okonkwo and many prominent persons. The event featured an international choir performance by National Choir of Barbados and also performing were international gospel artistes including Saxophonist Angela Christie, Shirley Caesar, Donnie McClurkin, Chevelle Franklyn and Nigerian gospel artistes including Sammie Okposo, Asu Ekiye, Lara George, Freke Umoh and 12-year old saxophonist, David Eka among others.