Air Guitars roared for the eighth time in Oulu Finland - ideology of world peace and air guitar will be spread during the coming year by American actor David "C-Diddy" Jung. Jung won the title of Air Guitar World Champion in the night spectacle of Oulu Music Video Festival on Friday 29 August.

Six competitors, who had made it through the qualifying round on Thursday night, confronted the national winners from Australia, Austria, Belgium, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Norway, the United States, and Finland.

The Air Guitar skills of David "C-Diddy" Jung (US Champion) captivated both the jury and the audience. On the self chosen round C-Diddy performed to the sounds of "Play With Me" by Extreme, and the song of the compulsary for all finalists was "Get Your Hands Off My Woman" by The Darkness. The second prize in the Air Guitar competition was awarded to Jordi "Funky Jordi" Nieuwenburg from The Netherlands.

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C-Diddy received not only worldwide fame and glory but was also awarded with a genuine Finnish handmade Flying Finn guitar worth 2,500 euros and a VOX BM Special amplifier - designed, donated and signed by Queen guitarist Brian May.

These were C-Diddy's feelings just after the victory: "I'm really touched and happy! I practise air guitarring always when possible: when I hear the music my hands start to live and my heart beats faster. For me there is only one guitar - the air guitar. I love to rock!"

Final results and points of Air Guitar World Championships 2003:
1. David C-Diddy" Jung (US) 35.2
2. Jordi "Funky Jordi" Nieuwenburg (The Netherlands) 34.4
3. Mark "Roxy McStagger" Hadfield (Australia) 34.3
Kris "Stan Kreich" Achten (Belgium) 34.3
4. Erkki "Donaldo Galvosukiai" Lilja (Finland) 34.0
Dave "McInroe" Rowlands (New Zealand) 34.0
5. Marco "Marc Airminator Wolfscorner" Bartolini (Austria) 33.9
6. Andre Ulriksen (Norway) 33.6
7. Dan "Bjorn Turoque" Crane (US) 33.5
8. Mike "The Judge" Kaden (Austria) 33.4
9. Niko "air.alm" Alm (Austria) 32.5
Jussi "Käkkis" Arhinmäki Finland 32.5
10. Petri Kalmari (Finland) 31.7
11. Ian "The Red Plectrum" Stafford (UK) 31.6

Also this year the prestigious jury was chaired by Finnish guitar legend Juha Torvinen. Other members of the jury included Angela McCoy, and Henrik Andersson from the Swedish group Hank. According to Torvinen the quality of the competition has been brilliant for the last years. There's only two things he is missing: women in the final and more lunatics!

As usual after the competition, the air guitarists in Kuusisaari invited the whole world to join in Air Guitar playing to Neil Young's Keep on Rocking in the Free World. According to the ideology of Air Guitar, all bad things would disappear from the world, if everybody played the Air Guitar.

This traditional night event of Oulu Music Video Festival was arranged in Kuusisaari, where competitors fought for the title of Air Guitar World Champion in front of 3500 rocking people. Other attractions in Kuusisaari included summer favourite Pikku G and Hanoi Rocks, who made the audience crazy. The night was kicked off fabulously by 80's cult film Beat Street along with the Sonic Skool break dance group. Also the Oulu-based group Transistori entertained the festival crowd with their specialty, instruments made from recycled material. The host for the night was Luca Gargano from YleX radio station.

Further information:
Air Guitar Producer Marika Lamberg, marika@omvf.net, tel. +358 8 5700 500
Communications Coordinator Katri Dahlström, katri@omvf.net, tel +358 8 5700 516

The purpose of The Air Guitar World Championships is to promote world peace. According to the ideology of air guitar playing all war and disease would cease to exist and all bad things would disappear if everyone in the world only played air guitar. This is why at the end of every competition all people in the world are invited to play air guitar simultaneously.

copyright © 2003 kate rigg all rights reserved