Priungshu sings his way to Asia Book of Records

During the 2021 Covid lockdown, Priungshu Roy Chowdhury, a schoolboy from Chattogram, found a productive way to spend his time by learning to sing the national anthems of 120 countries in just eight months.

His dream of being in the Guinness World Records has yet to come true, but he has recently received recognition from the prestigious Asia Book of Records, which is based in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and Faridabad, India.

Priungshu, who passed his SSC exams from Chittagong Government High School this year, has been awarded the title of "Grand Master" by the Asia Book of Records for singing the national anthems of 10 countries, including Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and UAE, in 9 minutes and 11 seconds at the age of 16 years, as confirmed on June 20, 2023.

His dream of being in the Guinness World Records has yet to come true, but he has recently received recognition from the prestigious Asia Book of Records.

Asia Book of Records posted the entry on its website.

Priungshu, a fan of the Australian cricket team after his home team Bangladesh, used to get excited when he heard the Australian national anthem being sung by its players before the start of an international cricket match and learned their national anthem.

He then got tempted to learn other national anthems on the popular video-sharing app YouTube. From childhood, he had a love for singing and listening to songs.

"At the beginning, I started learning different national anthems as a hobby. Later, I started learning as many anthems as I could after finding out about Canadian singer Capri Everitt, who made it to the Guinness World Records for singing most national anthems in their host countries in one year," Priungshu told The Daily Star.

After learning to sing 80 national anthems in just five months that year, he submitted an application to Guinness World Records. But his appeal was not accepted since Capri set the record by singing 76 national anthems while visiting those particular countries, which was not possible for him.

But he was not disheartened; rather, he continued learning more anthems against his parents' wishes, who were worried about his school studies.

"I practised for 30 to 40 minutes daily and managed to learn 40 more anthems in the next three months before I paused for my studies," said Priungshu.

After finishing his SSC exams a few months ago, he resumed practising, and this time he applied to the Asia Book of Records.

His father, Palash Roy Chowdhury, a manager of Karnaphuli Gas Distribution Company Limited, said, "I was really impressed when I first heard my son singing anthems of different countries in their native language. He has made us very proud!"

Priungshu, who previously wanted to study biological sciences, now wants to pursue his studies in international relations.