The Oulu Music Video Festival extended into a full-blooded, international, and cross-disciplinary city festival of the audiovisual field. The Finnish Music Video Contest went as accustomed, the special series covered also other things besides mere music video, Oulu was presented around the world as the Mecca of Air Guitar and various cultural players from Oulu joined forces in escorting a look-alike of the statue of Finnish President UKK from Rotuaari Pedestrian Street to the Gulf of Bothnia.
The festival programme was more versatile and wide, and the number of visitors increased once more: the events of the Oulu Music Video Festival events this year gathered a record-breaking audience of almost 12,000 people.
Finnish Music Video Contest
Jury: Ilkka Mattila, Maiju Leppänen, Piritta Haanperä, Ilkka Lindgren and Olli Estola.
Results:
The Golden Pumpeli: Jukka Takalo - Aknestik: Neptunus
The People's Pumpeli: Antti Haaranen/Jaakko Huuki - Tjad & Jasupehmo: Avaruuslimonadi
The Honorary Mentions:
Sökö Kaukoranta - Aki Sirkesalo: Seksuaalista häirintää
Pete Riski - Arto Tamminen: Utopia
Antti Haaranen/Jaakko Huuki - Tjad & Jasupehmo: Avaruuslimonadi
Marko Antila - Waldo: The Look
Hector Abaunza-Canales/Sökö Kaukoranta - Sound of R.E.L.S.: Crazy Music
Special Screenings
Sound & Vision: European History of Music Videos - History of Visual Music - Museum of Postmodern Art - Notes from Underground - An Artist's Advertising Alternatives - Animated Music Videos / Finnish Eurovision Songs 1 & 2 / Pitkänen & Paulaharju Retrospective / Tikka & Moisio Retrospective / A Happy Day in Paradise: Documentary Music Videos / Thank you for the Music - Mika Taanila
Air Guitar World Championships
Results:
1. Ville Paakkari (FIN)
2. Jenni Pääskysaari (FIN)
3. Mika Mäntykenttä (FIN)
The band Juustopäät played at Rotuaari Pedestrian Street.
The evening ended in a mysterious Kekkonen spectacle, which was kept as much a
secret as possible until the very last moment. The festival had ordered Artist
Helena Kankaansyrjä to sculpt a look-alike of artist Matias Keskinen's infamous
UKK monument. The 400-kilogramme statue was brought out to Rotuaari early on
Friday morning for the spectacle that evening. The Kekkonen spectacle was
started after a mass karaoke that ended with the shouting choir Mieskuoro
Huutajat, by Matti Ollikainen's short documentary about the ruin of Keskinen's
statue just before Mihail Gorbachov's visit to Oulu in 1989. After the documentary,
archive material about Urho Kekkonen was projected onto the screen, and
influential cultural people from Oulu started to gather on Rotuaari, from belly
dancers to Teekkaritorvet brass band. Mieskuoro Huutajat began carrying the
statue toward the City Hall, and the other people followed, constituting a
parade. The Kekkonen spectacle progressed in the form of a big carnival parade
under police escort from Rotuaari past the City Hall along Kirkkokatu and
Hallituskatu towards the Market Place, continuing to the shore between the City
Theatre and Pikisaari Island. The look-alike statue of Kekkonen was launched
into the water to drift toward the open sea being tugged forward behind a boat
rowed by Mieskuoro Huutajat. An audience of nearly a thousand people followed
the statue all the way from Rotuaari to the shore as the brass band played
Kotkan ruusu and the Northern lights lit up the sky.
Silakka Clubs (45 Special, Vanha Verneri)
Juustopäät / Aavikko / The Joneses / Radiopuhelimet / Vox Flatus / Acting Bliss / Petri Rainer / Sweetheart / Keuhkot / Submerged / Seppälä
