Last weekend Oulu witnessed a lot of action. Oulu’s Music Video Festival was attracting people to Valve and the Juhlateltta, while the Air Guitar World Championships gathered 8000 people at the market place on Friday night.

Kirill "Your daddy" Photo:J Kerttula

So what is air guitar? It’s a form of entertainment, where the performer pretends to play guitar to the background music, exaggerating his movements. “Three years ago when I first saw it, I thought it was stupid. But today I’m here.”, a Japanese contestant “Sunaney” laughs.

Originally, the contest was only a side-attraction to the Oulu Music Video Festival. “I remember when I just moved to Oulu 13 years ago. I was sitting in a café at Rotuaari with my Australian friend, and suddenly someone started playing air guitar. No-one understood what it was about back then.”, a German resident of Oulu explains.

Now Air Guitar has grown to be a huge event. This year 23 competitors from 18 countries have come to Oulu to show off their skills. “Air Guitar! Isn’t that why Oulu was built?!”, Damian Kulash, the lead singer of the American band “OK Go” jokingly says.

The rules are similar to Figure Skating competitions, with 5 judges giving the performers points on 6.0 scale. “It’s very difficult to judge air guitarists. It’s an art!” – a UK judge Zac Morno shared at the press brunch.

The people in the crowd on the Friday night were very involved in the competition, despite the temperature being just 6 degrees. They cheered loudly for the contestants, and in the end almost the whole crowd played air guitars themselves. It wasn’t only young people who were drawn to the event -the ages ranged from teenagers to couples in their mid-forties.

It was last year’s champion “Gunther Love” (FR), who took the trophy back home again. After the winner was announced, fireworks lit the sky, while all the contestants played air guitar on the stage. The show then continued with a rapper Paleface and a singer Samuli Putro entertaining the audience. There was also a surprise performance by a male choir Pohjan Laulu and Swedish Junip.

“It’s amazing how you create the whole thing out of nothing. The things you need to do to create something of that size.”, an American contestant said. They were a slightly eccentric, but very cheerful group of people. “We all have the same attitude and personality, and that’s just great!”, one of the organisers said joyfully.

Karla "Gotika Mendoza" Photo: M Arhippainen

Oulu Music Video Festival, took place over 5 days, with the record number of 225 videos entered in the contest. There were also some special screenings, with compilations of different videos.

The two hour Bollywood compilation got many viewers. “The videos they picked were really good! Maybe some were a bit boring, but it must have been someone who knew what he was doing who chose them!”, Juhi Somani, an Indian very familiar with Bollywood cinematography, smiled.

The performance of this year’s Air Guitar World Championship winner “Gunther Love” can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42xwzTKlozI .