Air Guitar World
Championships were held for the 12th time in Oulu. The blinging final took
place at Club Teatria, where Japan showed its guitarring skills yet again. The
Land of the Rising Sun took home the world champion title for the second time
in a row, and Ochi "Dainoji" Yosuke will again spread around the world peace
ideology. The familiar tiger shirt and stylish, laid back air guitarring
guaranteed Dainoji's victory. Competition was hard, and the runners up came
from France and Austria: 2nd place went to Guillaume "Moche Pitt" de
Tonquédec and 3rd place to Max "Herr Jaquelin" Heller.
The skilled air guitar performances were evaluated by
the guitar legend Juha Torvinen, who has been the head of the honorable jury
since 1994. He was accompanied by researcher and teacher of music science Juha
T. Torvinen. Other, non-Torvinen jury members included Ville Paakkari, the
youngest air guitar world champion ever. He was crowned victorious in 1997, at
the tender age of ten. Also the awarded filmmaker Carsten Fiebeler from Germany
and the organiser of the Italian national championships, Rainer Toniatti, were
selected to attend jury duty.
Four victorious black horses from Thursday's
Qualifying Round faced the 15 national champions and the ruling world champion
Ochi "Dainoji" Yosuke at the Final. The Final included participants from the
United States, Canada, Mexico, Norway, Great Britain, Germany, the Netherlands,
Switzerland, France, Austria, Italy, Greece, Japan, Australia, New Zealand,
Finland and Spain.
Having played their air guitars to their self-chosen songs, the ten best moved
on to the compulsory round to play the heavy rumble chosen by the organisers:
"I Don't Wanna Stop" by Ozzy Osbourne. In addition to fame and glory, Yosuke
received a hand-made Flying Finn -guitar and Nokia 5700 XpressMusic mobile
phone. Also de Tonquédec and Heller received mobile phones, and for winning the
public vote Heller was also rewarded with a signed Baby Brian May guitar.
Results
1. Ochi "Dainoji" Yosuke (JPN)
2. Guillaume "Moche Pitt" de Tonquédec (FRA)
3. Max "Herr Jaquelin" Heller, Itävalta (AUT)
4. Christian "Heart Buckboard" Sweep (GER)
5. Alessandro "Mystic Barrito" Veletta (CH)
5. Tatsuya " Ichikawa the Rock" Ichikawa (JPN)
7. Ramon "The Shaking Devil" Compagnoni (IT)
8. David "Moreno del Metal" Moreno (ES)
8. Hassan "Mr. Hassan" Cordero Terriguez (MX)
10. John "Rootin Tootin Redneck Johno" Gerrand (NZ)
11. Stefan "Bugi" Meier (CH)
11. Andrew "William Ocean" Litz (US)
13. Tom "The T" Vorstius Kruijff (NL)
13. Renè Schmidt (GER)
15. Kristian "Living Jukebox" Klevberg (NO)
16. Wes "Tommy Air Manuel" Roe (AU)
16. Gabi "The Hoxton Creeper" Matzeu (GB)
18. Tim "Glen Airy Glen Rocks" Evans(CA)
18. Hilkka "Gore Kitty" Suvanto (FIN)
20. Petros "Muruth the Barberian" Stathatos
(GR)
