He had had this dream for a long time and had already had to postpone it, due to poor health and other organisational problems, but this time he has made it and now it should just be a formality to join the list of people who have set a ‘Guinness World Record’.
He is the Kenyan musician Mackinlay Mutsembi, a familiar face and sound not only among his compatriots, but also for many Italians, given his collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute and with many jazz musicians from home in transit from Nairobi and also on the coast.
Between last Friday and Saturday, Mackinlay played trumpet for more than 24 hours in a row at the Geco Café in Nairobi, in a musical marathon that began on the evening of 31 January and ended the next day at 10pm.
With the musician, who ranges from his love for traditional jazz to Afro-funky, R&B, African music and reggae, six different bands took turns for as many distinctive musical sets, but he never got off stage. Behind him, a large stopwatch signalled the extremes of what may become a record not easily beaten, in front of the stage the panel of judges in charge of broadcasting the extremes of this epic attempt, which seemed successful and at the same time, for those present and those who followed him live on social platforms, highlighted the Kenyan music scene and its resilience.
His compatriot Eliud Kipchoge, an Olympic and world marathon runner who at the age of 40 was the first to go under 2 hours in the world's oldest running discipline, is known for the motto ‘no human being has limits’. Mackinlay has made this philosophy his own, coining the term ‘artistic endurance’, using the record attempt as a challenge to creative people to expand their limits.
Mackinlay is not only an excellent musician, one of Africa's best trumpet players, but also an affable person and a friend. We are proud of him and pay him great compliments.