Thanks to Ken Shafer who sent me video he took at the Grupo Luso show in Montreal this past July 20th 2005. I've sliced out the section of the display which consisted entirely of precision-timed salutes which were used to create what was effectively a drum solo. Kudos to Vitor Machado for creating this innovative pyromusical sequence. I thought many would be interested in seeing this so the clip (in divx format) is available here:

http://montreal-fireworks.com/Video/ritmo.avi

I'll probably be posting other clips too - I know there has been interest expressed in seeing the Portuguese "pyrodome" that was used in their finale.

Stay green,

Paul.

Hi Paul,

Thanks for the clip. More is always appreciated! Considering this segment, the sych was fantastic (due to magicfire, of course). But hard to judge since basically nothing is going on, only salutes. Another thing, I did not notice the synchro when I was on the site. The booms of the salutes were completely silencing the music, making it hard to follow the beat. Much easier to analyze on video.

Dan

Like Dan I would also like to thank you, Paul and Ken, for making this clip available to the rest of us.

Personally I am captivated by sequenses like this since I think it's a very Intelligent way of shooting fireworks and makes a refreshing contrast to the usual "emty-the-containers-with-chinese-shells-we-accidentally-bought-way-to -many-off"-approach
But as you write in your report (Paul) most people probably won't "get it" because it's very advanced and in no way what people are used to...

But thumbs up to Vitor Machado for creativity and uniqueness from me

Regards,
Lars

Dan,

there wasn't really any music - just the cymbal track. All the rest of the "music" was the booms of the salutes. I guess it also depended where you were sitting. Where I was, it was possible to hear the cymbal track as well as the salutes ... but I did know in advance that this segment was going to appear so I already knew how to interpret it. I know some people who were sitting in a different section had problems due to reflections of the sound of the salutes destroying the rhythm.

Cheers,

Paul.