Did you ever compete in any talent shows while you were in school?
For a lot of kids, the day of a school talent show wasn’t just an opportunity to take some time off from classes, it was also a chance to show off what made you special.
For some people, it meant choreographing a dance routine with your friends; to others, it could mean performing a few cool yo-yo tricks that you learned. Even if you didn’t actually participate, it was always exciting to see what other secret talents the kids around you had.
Obviously, that traditional lives on in our reality shows—but it also goes on into some college as well.
Although there are plenty of talent shows at plenty of colleges around the country, few are as competitive as the Harvard Talent Show.
Though it probably goes without saying, Harvard University is one of the world’s most selective and prestigious colleges. As a result, the student base at Harvard is made up of all kinds of incredible academics and multi-faceted individuals who have all kinds of talents
As such, the competition in their talent show is pretty steep as well—let alone the fact that you’re going up against a bunch of competitive adults rather than a bunch of kids.
With all that in mind, one performer absolutely stole the show at one of these contests.
The video we’re talking about is from April 2011 in Harvard’s first annual talent show.
The performer in question was Amin Toofani, a classical guitarist who was also a student at the school at the time. As the video begins, Toofani gets a brief introduction from the MC who says that he’ll be performing a piece that he composed called “Gratitude.”
As he goes up to the microphone, he explains that the song he’s performing is designed to mimic his time at Harvard thus far, including all the ups and downs. Above all, he says he feels a ton of gratitude for being able to study at Harvard.
After his introduction is done, the crowd gives him another round of applause and he’s ready to perform.
After tuning up for a moment… or appearing to tune up at least, things seem like they’re getting off to a bad start.
After that, it seems the beginning has all been a ruse—as Toofani flips the guitar over and starts playing fluently almost immediately.
The song he’s playing is in a Spanish guitar style and begins pretty slowly and melodiously. Before long, though, he’s plucking furiously up and down the neck of the guitar.
As soon as he starts picking up speed, the audience can’t help but break out in applause halfway through!
The tune only gets more and more complex as he goes on, culminating in a high-speed tapping section.
The tapping and hand-muting section carries on throughout the end of the song… and the crowd even starts clapping along. At one point, Toofani pulls out a comb and takes an applause break! Finally, he swings back into it and finished up with a few flourishes.
At the end, the crowd gives him a standing ovation! The video has since been shared on YouTube and labelled “World’s Best Guitar Player,” and has earned over 85 million views! His performance was definitely incredible… but we’ll let you judge for yourself.
Congratulations to Amir Toofani on this awesome live show! Check out the full thing in the clip below:
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