Eight Competitors to Battle for the Air Guitar World Championship on Saturday
Eight of the world’s best air guitarists advanced from the first final round of the Air Guitar World Championships on Friday, August 28. The second and decisive final round will take place on Saturday, August 29.
The competition was cheered on by an audience of 4,000 spectators, who passionately supported their favourites.
Competitors advancing to Saturday’s final, with Friday’s scores:
- Aapo “The Angus” Rautio, reigning World Champion, Finland — 17.2
- Nanami “Seven Seas” Nagura, Japan — 17.1
- Kirill “Guitarantula” Blumenkrants, France — 16.8
- Saladin “Six String Sal” Thomas, USA — 16.6
- Howard “Devil Narcissus” Lo, Taiwan — 16.5
- Sam “Airlo Guv’na” Nicoresti, United Kingdom — 16.5
- Fausto “Heavyer Dannair” Carraro, Brazil — 16.5
- Apolline “Lady Attila” Andreys, France — 16.4
Other competitors on Friday:
- Dave “Iron Age” Chen, Taiwan
- Toshio “Shariten KD” Kado, Japan
- Frédéric “French Kiss” Reau, France
- Léonard “Lenny Pocket” Pollet, Belgium
- Tyler “Cat Friday” Gardner, Canada
- Armin “The Arminator” Van Schie, the Netherlands
- Patrick “Ehrwolf Van Airhoven” Culek, Germany
In Saturday’s second final round, the competitors will perform in reverse order of their rankings from the first final round.
Final Jury
This year’s final jury consisted of:
- Juha Torvinen
- Aline “The Devil’s Niece” Westphal
- Freddy Lim
- Merja Satulehto
- Marko Keränen
The evening was hosted by Justin “Nordic Thunder” Howard and Asta Salomaa.
Photos from the competition will be updated to the media folder:
The Air Guitar World Championships have been held in Oulu since 1996. This year marked the 30th time the World Championship of Air Guitar was contested in Oulu. The sport, which was initially perceived even as absurd, is nowadays an extremely popular global phenomenon that draws international air guitar stars to the North year after year to battle for supremacy in the sport.
Air guitar is played together for world peace. According to the ideology of the competition, wars will end, climate change will stop, and all bad things will disappear if all the people in the world play the air guitar. The sport also stands for equality – literally absolutely anyone can pick up an air guitar, at any time.
The air guitar evening was opened in the traditional manner with the declaration of air guitar peace, and at the end of all the beauty, everyone present got to try playing air guitar together to the tune of Rockin’ in the Free World.
The Air Guitar World Championships are organized by the Oulu-based Airnest Productions Ltd. and the event is part of the Oulu August Festivals.
For further information: Pia Alatorvinen, Executive Director tel. 044 723 2676 pia@oulunjuhlaviikot.fi
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