Pluck it!! – The Air Guitar World Championships

There are a few things that people like to do in the privacy of their own home, usually alone, frequently with the curtains closed and always unmentionable in polite company, actually any company come to that. Air guitar at one time belonged to this grubby little group of leisure activities and was something you would only ever indulge in if finding yourself on the wrong end of a few pints of Mild. The Air Guitar World Championships though have changed considerably in the last 20 years.

What used to be the ultimate in making a cock of yourself, The Air Guitar World Championship was bolted on to the Oulu Music Festival in Finland as bit of fun in 1996 and immediately became a hit with serious muso’s and the festival party pack alike. It is now a major global craze with competitors coming from all around the world to fight for the world title every summer in Finland and national competitions in over twenty countries.

The champions from those national competitions have a direct route to the finals so for the rest of us who haven’t made Air Guitar a way of life just yet, we can enter the Dark Horses Qualifying Round. And for all of those who make it onto the big stage, it’s the faux darkness of Heavy Metal meets the intricate scoring system of International Ice Skating. From a maximum of 6 points each judge will construct a score based of technical merit, mimesmanship, stage presence and airness. And if you’re wondering what ‘airness’ is then it’s the extent to which the performance was itself a standalone piece of art.

Each performer has two opportunities to impress the panel, the first one being a one minute piece to a song of their choice and the second being a minute freestyle to a ‘surprise’ song. You’re also strictly forbidden from playing any other ‘air’ instruments in each round such as air drums or air piano. And it also helps if you have an ‘air handle’, it’s simpy not good enough to rock up with just your real name. Past winners have included Craig ‘HotLixx Huluhan Billmeier and last year’s champ Aline ‘the Devil’s niece’ Westphal. Interesting that Aline decided she was a niece rather than her daughter, mind you looking at her promo shot you probably would argue the toss.

The Air Guitar World Championships kicks off on 22^nd August and lasts until the 24^th and all the information you could possibly need is all here: http://www.airguitarworldchampionships.com/

This perfectly nutty indulgence sums up all that is right with the world and we love its underlying ethos of ‘all the wars would end and all the bad things would just go away if everyone played air guitar’… Tricky to implement but a beautiful sentiment.

Tags: Air Guitar, Finland, Oulu Music Festiva

About the Author

Adrian Simpson Adrian Simpson is a writer and TV presenter with a profound love of the outdoors. His family, snow, sea, brewing, vinyl, guitars and VW buses mean the world to him.