Paul,

How was your trip in Japan? Can we have some news from the International symposium? Did La Ronde's team or you perform a presentation at the meeting? How do you compare this symposium with the meeting to which you had gone last year in Spain?

Fred

Hey Paul,

I wouldn't mind knowing how it went, too. I look foward to hearing about your experience.

Oh yes, next month our competition begins! Once again, we did a good job killing time. It'll be back to old times again.

Regards,

Trav.

Sorry for the slow report on this - I spent time in China after I'd been at the symposium.

It was a very interesting week - especially since it was held in Japan with all the interesting cultural differences there are compared to here. The setting of the Symposium was magnificent - in front of the largest lake in Japan, lake Biwa. Each night of the Symposium there was a different display held at a different location on the lake. To get there we either travelled by boat or bus or a combination of the two. An interesting "lunch box" consisting of many different shapes of all sorts of substances was provided each evening too. Trying to guess whether the substance was a vegetable or an animal, and, if so, if it lived in the sea or not was an interesting challenge.

There were many interesting presentations and discussions at the Symposium and it was great to catch up with old friends in the fireworks world. After the evening displays, it was interesting to visit typical Japanese tatami rooms to sample sake and other delights. One of the highlights for me, and of particular interest to members of this forum, was the evening I spent with Benito Pagano - the main driving force of the Italian fireworks company IPON. We were sat in one of the tatami rooms, together with Georg Alef of Weco (Platinum Jupiter winner last year) when Benito decided to show us how he makes the large salutes that IPON are famous for. Grabbing a 6" ashtray as a former, he deftly folded newspaper around it as Georg rolled a fake spollette as a time fuse. Benito folded the paper around the spollette and after only a matter of seconds, we had what looked like a 6" salute sitting on the table. It was a joy to see such artisanship first-hand.

As for the displays, the highlight of the week was the combined display put on by several Japanese companies. This included the firing of two 24" (yes, twenty four) shells. They functioned magnificently. The display itself was very different to typical Western displays. It was fired from two barges but was naturally asymetric - the left hand barge firing an arc of shells reaching from just above the surface of the lake up to vertical whilst the right hand barge fired just vertically. This disturbed me during the display since I formed the incorrect impression that there was something wrong with the right-hand barge; so used to symetry my western-conditioned brain is. It's only after watching the display several times since that I've come to really appreciate how unusal and beautiful this display was.

The next Symposium will be held in Berlin in April next year. There's a rumour that several attendees of this year's Symposium are going to collaborate on a special display for Berlin. Who knows ... perhaps I'm one of the collaborators

Paul.

Hi Paul!

Thanks for the update. It sounds like a great time, especially on the night with Benito and Georg - no one can hardly doubt that it would be possible to learn a lot from these artisans If I knew you would be with these specific gentlemen i would have asked you to pass on my appreciation to Benito for making the mentioned salutes and Georg for using them in "Eau de Cologne"... They remain the most frightening yet simple pyrotechnical device i've ever witnessed! Though Atlas PyroVision production concluded their display in 2003 with an enourmous barrage, the air preassure from the 6" salutes just made me loose contact with mother earth for a moment! One has to use these with caution

I am particularly glad to hear that the next symposium will be held in Berlin, since its relatively close to Denmark! If the dispay "someone" are planning turns out to be a promising event one might as well stop by and say "Guten tag"...

I hope some of the pyrofreak-websites will be kind enought to show something from the japanese displays one day...

Regards,
Lars

Lars,

I'm going to be in Copenhagen on May 25th - I'm presenting a seminar at the Scandic Hilton Hotel on May 26th but am leaving that evening for Manchester.

As for video of the Japanese displays, I'm working on putting some footage I have up for everyone to see.

By the way, those 6" salutes that Benito makes use 1.5kg of flash powder ... which is rather more than the 85g limit on sound shells now in place in Canada

Cheers,

Paul.

Hey Guys,

If you want a full report and pictures of the Symposium check out www.pyroplanet.com

Bill

Paul,

Sounded like you had a great time. One question, how were the finales? And did you see any of those "girandolas"?

Bill,

Nice pictures. Thanks for the link and the additional information.

Regards,

Trav.

Paul,

I followed Bill's link and read this interesting report about the Symposium. Following the "ISF team" subtitle, an intriguing question appears to me: does Linda Marriott, associated to administration team of this symposium, is one of your relatives?!?!

Now, less than one month before the first show of the 2005 Montreal competition! I begin to be very thrilled and I expect great displays this summer!

Fred

Hi Fred,

no, Linda Marriott is not directly related to me - just in the same way I'm not directly related to the Marriott Hotel chain (unfortunately!).

As for Trav's question about the finales, there were several different styles of display and so that kind of finales presented varied too. We had two Italian displays (La Rosa and a consortium represented largely by Parente) which did have typical Italian finales. We also had displays by some Chinese companies which had a different style as did the two displays presented by a company from the UK. We also had a great display by San Tai of Taiwan which lasted almost 40 minutes and was spectacular.

The final display of the Symposium was presented by a Japanese consortium and the whole style of the display was quite different to what we're used to. In that finale, there was a 24" shell fired which was incredible (as was the one fired at the beginning of the display).

Of all the displays, only one was pyromusical - and that was the one by Parente and their Italian consortium. There were actually eight displays performed during the week of the Symposium so we were extremely fortunate.

Cheers,

Paul.

Hi Paul,

You were fortunate to see a display made by San Tai of Taiwan. Their show produced at La Ronde in 2001 was fantastic. I remember especially the intensity of their performance when it started, right after the 10, 9, 8, 7... pronounced by Michel Lacroix. I have an audio-tape of this show and it is always a pleasure to listen this soundtrack. I hope that this company will come back soon in Montreal.

I am surprised to learn that only one of the eight displays was pyromusical. We have to keep in mind that most shows performed in this industry are not pyromusical. So we are really fortunate to enjoy as many pyromusical displays as we do each year at La Ronde.

Fred

Hi Paul,

Fun that you'll be visiting little Denmark As I can read from your post you don't have time for at sightseeing in Copenhagen?

But thank's for your info on the Symposium - it's nice of you to fill us in

Regards,
Lars