Dutch Air Guitar Championships

Je moet soms tot grote hoogte stijgen om in the picture te komen. Zanger Jamiroquay probeert het met een concert in de lucht, ofwel een optreden in een Boeing 757. Ruim 150 mensen gaan het meemaken op dinsdag 27 februari. Waar Katie Melua de zeebodem opzocht om een diepteconcert te geven op 303 meter onder de zeespiegel, gaat Jamiroquai ruim 10 kilometer de lucht in om een optreden van een half uur te geven. Guinness World Record vliegt ook mee om te kijken of het evenement een plaatsje verdient in het Guinness Book of World Records. Of het een regelmatig terugkerend evenement wordt is nog niet duidelijk. “Maar misschien zetten we wel een traditie neer en gaan we er meer mee doen”, aldus de platenmaatschappij van Jamiroquay.

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In Amsterdam zal een groep van 50 Tilburgse studenten een workshop luchtgitaarspelen krijgen van de Amsterdammer Pelvis Fenderbender, 3e tijdens het WK Air Guitar te Oulu, Finland in 2005. Heeft u ook interesse in een workshop, reageer dan op deze posting en wij nemen zo snel mogelijk contact met u op.

Igmar ‘Iggy Stardust’ de Haan from Amsterdam is the reigning Dutch Champion, winning the crown in a packed Paradiso venue in september 2006. Iggy won the qualification round in Haarlem at the Patronaat and was a hot favorite to take the title. In the finals, he beat Air Jean (4th in 2004 and now 2nd) and Tremelo Theun to take home the title.

The World Championships ended a bit dissappointing for Iggy, coming in at only the 11th place, not being able to play the compulsory round, normally his strongest round.

He is currently active in acting and has been spotted in advertisments for the National Lotery, sportsshoes et cetera. (foto: c Wim de Groot)

In 2005 Theun ‘Tremelo Theun’ from Hengelo took the title, winning in competition with The Destroyer, whom he beat by the narrowest of margins. Theun is still playing the air guitar at festivals in The Netherlands, from alternative scene to fanclub days of national heroes ‘Normaal’. He is an accomplished guitar and bass player, currently playing in his new band.

Theun finished 11th in the World Championships in 2005, but won the Nations Cup together with The Destroyer and Pelvis Fenderbender. In 2006 he finished 3rd in the Dutch finals while defending his title, and will be participating in the 2007 finals again. Click here to see his MySpace account. Foto: c. Wim de Groot.

Michael ‘The Destroyer’ Heffels became the second Dutch Air Guitar Champion by beating dending champ by a narrow margin in the 2004 finals. At the World Championships, he came in 5th in 2004. In 2005 he defended his title but was beaten in the Dutch finals by Tremelo Theun, mainly due to a below par compulsory round. His robotact in the free round was exceptional however, and in cooperation with the Dutch Championships he decided to try to win the world title.

Together with Pelvis Fenderbender he entered the dark hoirse qualifying round in Finland, ending 1st by beating Pelvis by a narrow margin of 0,1. Together they entered the finals, where Michael decisively won the world title, beating New Zealands and Pelvis to place 2 and 3.

He currently gives air guitar workshops around the globe and in 2010 crushed the world record simultanuous air guitar playing in Tiel with the 5.000 visitors op Appelpop. (foto: c Wim de Groot)

The first official Dutch air guitar champion ever is Jordi ‘Funky Jordi’ Nieuwenburg from Rotterdam. In 2003 he beat The Hurricane, taking the title to Finland for the World Championships. During the first world championships with Dutch participation, he came in second, only to be beaten by the American entry C-Diddy. In 2004 he defended his title, coming in second behind The Destroyer, who in 2005 became world champion. Funky Jordi is still considered to be one of the leading air guitar players in The Netherlands.

He is also a great guitar player in his own right, graduating from the Rotterdam conservatory in guitar playing. He was guitarist of  ‘Wealthy Beggar’, which had success in 2003 and 2004, released their cd ‘Roxxx at the Disco’ and once was the opening act of PinkPop, the biggest rock festival in the Netherlands and the oldest surviving annual rockfestival in the world.

Currently, from 2007 onwards, he is guitarist in the American but Dutch Based (Amsterdam) punk-rock-surf-wave band Jaya The Cat. (photo: c Wim de Groot)