Cross-Canada drum circles coming to 8 cities on Saturday

Richard Wong never learned to drum but that isn't stopping him from starting hopefully the most diverse drumming event the world has ever seen.

Wong is one of the organizers of the Canada 150 Drumming Project: anation-wide simultaneous drumming circle takingplace in eight Canadian cities on Canada Day.

Beginning at 11 a.m. PT, drummers at events from Vancouver to Halifax will drum for six minutes all at the same time.

"We're proud to be Canadian, so that's why we want to do something special to celebrate Canada 150," Wong told On The Coast guest host Gloria Macarenko.

"Everyone can participate: it doesn't matter if you're old or young or what culture. It shows unity: that we're all Canadian."

Wong says the event is aimed at celebrating Canadians from diverse backgroundscoming together to accomplish big things.

He says drumming was chosen for the event's focus because it reaches across cultures and it's something anyone can do; he describes himself as "a real amateur."

But organizers have a second, more difficult goal for the event: they hope it will land them in the Guinness Book of World Records for the drum circle with the most nationalities represented.

They need to find drummers with foreign passports from at least 50 countries and get them together in Vancouver.

You can find more information on the drum circle, including how to join, on the event website.

Listen to the full story:

With files from CBC Radio One's On The Coast