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Le Mondial SAQ 2003
Montréal International Fireworks Competition Report

France The Scents of Women - Women, I Love You June 21st, 2003

Arc en Ciel, designed by Jérôme Oghard, PyroMotion show design software, manual electric firing.

Pyrotechnical firm Arc en Ciel is the fruit of a marriage of ancestral art and avant-garde pyrotechnical techniques. Among other awards, Arc en Ciel took home the special jury's award at the presigious Cannes International Festival of Pyrotechnical Art in 2000. Determined to distinguish itself at this competition, this new recruit proposes a grand pyromusical show entirely devoted to women. The Scents of Woman - Women, I Love You will present seven elegant and impressive sets imbued with emotion, carrying the spectator along on a poetic and dreamlike voyage. Experience this ode to purity, passion, sensuality, beauty and determination.

The longest day of the year and the official start to summer brought picture-perfect weather for the inauguration of the 19th season of the Montréal International Fireworks Competition. After a slow start early evening, large crowds were present to witness this debut display from the French team. It is my intention for the 2003 season to interview the teams prior to their display but I was away this week and so wasn't able to do this.

Part 1 to the music La Marseillaise sung by Rouget de Lisle. A short introduction section beginning with tourbillon candles with blue bombettes above and then shells of gold comets above leading into a narration.

Part 2 to the music Women in chains by Tears for Fears. After the narration was over, a line of gold charcoal glitter fountains lit up along the lakefront with gold comet candles in the centre. Then fans of green star candles and then blue mine candles. These were augmented by bombette candles and a front of mines. The bombette candles continued and were followed by cakes of bright crossette ball stars. Then blue shells above with mine candles below followed by shells of bright gold stars, then pink and then green. These were followed by shells of meteor comets and then shells of tourbillon rings, forming a repeated motif, the segment coming to a close witha volley of meteor comet and tourbillon ring shells.

Part 3 to the music Mission impossible (Injection) by Hans Zimmer. Another narration and then a row of white strobes in vertical lines lit up. As these were strobing, crossed comet candles bursting to bombettes of white strobes. Then mine candles of strobes with strobe shells above. The size and number of strobe shells increasing, filling the sky with white strobes as the bombettes and mine candles continued below, bringing the segment to a close.

Part 4 to the music Lord of the dance (Victory) by Bill Whelan. This section began with fans of charcoal comet bombette candles with the comets dripping sparks into the lake. Then candle mines of bright yellow stars with blue bombettes above and then blue shells as well. These were followed by mines of yellow glitter to strobe with shells of blue turning to gold strobes above. Then repeated barrages of blue star shells followed by candles of gold glitter comets with more shells of blue above. The segment came to a close with shells of meteor comets turning to gold strobes.

Part 5 to the music Romeo and Juliet by Prokofiev. Another period of narration, followed by a period of dark sky led into crossed meteor headed silver comet candles interspersed with candles of stars, all in criss-cross fashion. Then criss-crossing candles of pale gold bombette comets with star shells above. These were followed by shells of meteor headed comets, then a barrage of shells of small comets, white strobe shells, the segment coming to a close with shells of very bright coloured meteor headed silver comets.

Part 6 to the music Mummy Attack by Jerry Goldsmith. An alternating line of blue and green star candles was followed by fans of bright yellow-headed white comets. Then crossed fans of gold comet candles with blue shells above. More criss-crossing bombette comet candles bursting to blue stars. This continued for a while, then another short period of dark sky followed by blue star shells with crossed comet candles below. Then shells of gold charcoal comets turning to blue stars, with bigger and bigger barrages of these bringing the segment to a close.

Part 7 to the music Age of the loneliness by Enigma. Another section of narration was followed by yellow star candles and candles of thin gold comets as bright yellow flares lit up the back of the display area. Then shells of bright lemon yellow stars, increasing in size and then bright lemon yellow headed silver meteor comet shells. Below these, runs of bright yellow mines from left to right. Next, candles of orange stars angled to the right with barrages of shells of bright orange stars above. These continued until the segment was brought to a close with shells of glittering gold comets turning to gold strobes.

Part 8 to the music Storm (Vivaldi's 4 seasons) by Vanessa Mae. The fireworks in this segment reflected the name of the music as it began with crackling crossette candles and bombettes of crackle. Long charcoal comets from the extreme left and right met in the middle of the display area with fans of crackling comet candles behind these and candles of orange-headed crackling comets. Then vertical candles of crackle, with bombettes of crackle and low barrages of crackling shells. Next, candles of crackling electric comets which were then augmented by fronts of tourbillon candles. This theme continued with candles of larger tourbillons and more crackling and electric comets. Next, multi-break shell-of-shells of silver comets, salutes and shells of crackling crossette comets with fans of crackling comet candles below and bombettes of crackle as well. The pace continued to increase as the segment came to a close with more shells of cracking electric crossette comets and fronts of crackling electric comets below.

Part 9 to the music Lakmé by Leo Delibes. A period of narration was followed by charcoal rising tail shells bursting to charcoal comets. These were repeated several times and then followed by gold brocade shells and the same in nautic shells! This theme continued for the rest of the segment, a final barrage of large brocade shells bringing it to a close.

Part 10 to the music Destiny by Vanessa Mae. This section began with crackling candles with blue shells above. Then shells of crackling electric comets with candles of colour bombettes below and mines of glitter. The bombettes continued with shells in bright orange above and then candles of tourbillons below and then screaming wiggling comet candles with more orange shells above and then crackling electric comet candles and more tourbillons. These were followed by crackling gold comet candles, loud whistles and crackling comet shells above and then augmented by cakes of orange crossette stars. Above these shells of crackling comets the segment coming to a close with whistling silver comet candles.

Part 11 to the music Prelude 1 Allegro gicoso from Carmen by Bizet. Yet another piece of narration was followed by crossed meteor headed comet candles with shells of stars and comets above. These were followed by bombette comet candles with more star and comet shells above. This theme continued, the segment coming to a close with a barrage of star and comet shells.

Part 12 to the music Riverdance (Reel around the sun) by Bill Whelan. Candles of clusters of thin silver comets were augmented by cakes of crossette ball stars in blue, then green and turquoise and gold and orange, building to more and more. Then very bright silver star candles in lines with barrages of star and glitter comet shells above. The pace increased as barrages of titanium salute candles in fans followed by very bright meteor headed comet shells above, bringing the segment to a close.

Part 13 to the music Le bâtard de Dieu (Gloria) by Germinal Tenas. Another period of narration was followed by a very wide fan of very long silver comets fired from the centre and filling the display area. This was followed by shells of tourbillons with silver comet candles below. The music moved to

Part 14 to the music Femmes parfum de Liberté (poeme) by R. Candy and T. Ganchou. Silver comet shells started to fill the air as silver comet candles fired below as the pace increased with more silver comet shells, and some blue shells which were hard to see because of the bright silver shells. The music came to an end during a final barrage of silver comet candles, shells and a big volley of large salutes, silver comets trailing down towards the lake at the end.

This was an interesting display due to the very large number of candles used - more than one thousand in fact. The lines of candles, where normally there might be ten to fifteen in a line, had as many as thirty or more. I was told that there were 47 firing positions for candles along the front of the lake! Synchronization was pretty good considering it was a manually fired display, but there were a couple of times where the music had stopped but the fireworks continued. There were some dramatic moments in the display, particularly the segment with lots of crackling bombettes and candles, but, unfortunately, the finale was a bit short and there were very few large shells used in the display. It's a personal thing, but I always find narrated sections in displays tend to break the rhythm and end up distracting from the overal concept, unless done very carefully. There were just too many periods of darkness that lasted just that bit too long for my taste. However, there were some great colours used, particularly the vivid lemon-yellows and oranges. All in all, a very creditable debut display for the French team.

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Thanks to the public relations people of La Ronde for the official press release material, shown in white.