Don't fret: Air guitar world title returns home to Finland after 25 years

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OULU, Finland (AP) — Finnish air guitarist Aapo “The Angus” Rautio plucked victory from thin air on Friday night, grabbing the world championship title for his homeland for the first time since 2000.

This year's Air Guitar World Championships reached the climax with a final Friday evening on a square in the western city of Oulu. It's the 28th edition of a three-day event held in Finland that brings together competitors from 13 countries.

Contestants are judged on the performance of two songs in two separate rounds, each lasting 60 seconds, with the singers pretending to play an imaginary guitar.

Passion is a must, but much of the rest is up to the contenders. Props and costumes are allowed, but backup bands and real instruments are off-limits.

The two-hour final pits last year's winner, Canada’s Zachary “Ichabod Fame” Knowles, against eight national champions and seven contenders who emerged from the qualifying rounds. The challengers include U.S. champion Saladin “Six String Sal” Thomas and German champion Patrick “Van Airhoven” Culek.

The winner is chosen by a five-member jury of performing arts professionals. Whoever is crowned will win an actual guitar — a “Flying Finn” made by Finnish guitar maker Matti Nevalainen.

The championships were first held in 1996. Their organizers state that “according to the competition ideology, wars will end, climate change will stop and all bad things will vanish when all the people in the world play the air guitar.”

Contestants may, according to the rules, “use an electric or an acoustic air guitar, or both.” The jury takes into account “originality, the ability to be taken over by the music, stage presence, technical merit, artistic impression and Airness.”

Each jury member scores the performances with a mark between 4.0 and 6.0. Each contestant’s scores from the first and second round — the first with a song chosen by the performer and the second with one chosen by the organizers — are added together and the candidate with the highest total score wins.