British contestant Ed Chipperfield lets rip. Photo credit: Air Guitar World Championships
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Oulu Music Video Festival & Air Guitar World Championships
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When:
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20 - 24 Aug 2008 (annual)
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Where:
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Oulu
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The air guitar strikes a (power) chord in the hearts of teenage boys and middle-aged men worldwide. Any budding bedroom Hendrix can show off their moves at the Oulu Music Video Festival & Air Guitar World Championships in Oulu.
Founded in 1996 by some enterprising Finnish air guitar fans, the championships have already pitted the cream of English, Dutch, Indian, Irish and Kiwi talent against one another.
The rules are simple. In the first round, each contestant must play a one-minute version of a "hard riffin' guitar classic" chosen by the jury. In the second, contestants get to choose their own song - from Vai to Van Halen, anything goes.
In its discriminating search for the world's leading practitioner of the art of air guitar, the jury looks for originality, charisma and - above all - sheer skill and technical aplomb.
There's plenty of music on the screens and in the clubs of Oulu during the five days, filmed and live, with and without guitars.
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