IN 2001, WROCLAW, POLAND’S LESZEK Cichonski released his album, Thanks Jimi: A Tribute to Jimi Hendrix, and, from that touchstone, a world-wide phenomenon was born. Two years later, Cichonski launched the first Thanks Jimi Festival in the Old Market Centre of Wroclaw. The debut event assembled 588 guitarists—young and old, punks and hippies, beginners and shredders, and more— to celebrate Hendrix and also attempt to set a Guinness World Record for simultaneous playing of “Hey Joe.” It didn’t happen. (Sorry, Jimi.)
But the now-annual May 1 guitar extravaganza captured the imaginations of players across the globe, and, soon, records started to fall. The Thanks Jimi Festival won its first Guinness World Record for Largest Guitar Orchestra in 2006, when 1,581 rockers kissed the sky with their guitars. Since then, the…
