Agence France-Presse

HELSINKI - A Finnish club set the world record Friday for the longest karaoke session of 216 hours, with the participants vowing to keep going and set a new watershed mark of several weeks.

"The official from the Guinness Book of World Records has given us a certificate and the record is now held by Kouvola Karaoke Club and Finland," Arto Nikunen, the president of the club, told AFP when the marathon had lasted for 216 hours.

The previous record of 214 hours was held by a club in China.

Last year Kouvola, a small town some 135 kilometers (85 miles) northeast of Helsinki, went head to head in an intense karaoke battle with its Chinese rival, when the two sides kept breaking each others' records.

Nikunen's club held the record for just six days last August and this time they want to avoid a similar disappointment. They have increased the number of karaoke machines to six from two and are even prepared for power outages.

"We want to hold the record for longer than six days like we did last year. We want to make a hefty record, so it would be difficult to break it," said Nikunen, whose new favorite karaoke song is the Beatles' "Let it Be."

Kouvola's goal is to reach 600 hours of non-stop karaoke singing, which would be reached on July 27.