HELSINKI: Air guitar enthusiasts gathered in the Finnish city of Oulu on
Friday to shred and strum their imaginary instruments in pursuit of the
world championship of the bizarre dance form.
Under grey, wet skies, this year’s 15 finalists appeared on the open air
stage on Oulu’s central square, twanging, jangling, riffing, screeching
and plucking the air.
This year’s title was taken by Japan’s Nanami Nagura, who performed
under the artist name Seven Seas in the contest’s 23rd edition.
She started her performance dressed as a modest cleaning lady before
transforming into a heavy metal guitarist as her song kicked in. Her
prize was a hand-carved guitar called the Flying Finn.
“I’m really, really happy, I can not believe it now!” she said after the contest.
Nagura was one of the seven performers who had entered the final through
qualifiers in other parts of the world. The other eight finalists
qualified through a “dark horse” round that took place in the host city
the night before.
This year’s oldest participant Bob Wagner, known as “Mr. Bob,” traveled
from Canada to celebrate his 75th birthday on stage at the dark horse
contest.
“I believe it’s their desire to perform and to vent their artistic
visions...The Japanese take this quite seriously, training to their
heart’s content. It’s a combination of drive to compete and artistic
delivery,” assistant producer Anssi Ikonen said.
https://www.geezgo.com/sps/36388
Comments
Post a Comment