The world record for playing accordions at the same time may have been set at the Newfoundland and Labrador Folk Festival.

Nine hundred and eighty-nine people gathered Saturday in St. John's to play the song Mussels in the Corner.

The previous record was set last month in Kimberly, B.C., known as the "Bavarian City of the Rockies", where 644 musicians played for 30 minutes.

Prior to that, the record was last set in Holland five years ago, where 566 accordionists gathered.

Organizer Dave Penny said the biggest problem wasn't getting the musicians together.

"We were all in different keys, and we had to get everyone in the same key," he told reporters.

Penny admitted the whole thing started off as a bit of a joke to promote the festival, but they will now be applying to the Guinness Book of World Records for official certification.