As Paul will be doing his own interview friday, here's a teaser :

Gaston Gallo, the pyro and sound designer, announce 210 PyroDigital firing modules with 3300 cues...

I'm just on my way to interview Gaston Gallo - full report when I get back.

Paul.

I just got back from a very interesting interview with Gaston Gallo, founder of Fuegos Artificiales Jupiter and also chief choreographer for tomorrow night's show.

Gaston spent time explaining the history of Argentinian Tango, but told me tomorrow's display was inspired by his last visit to Montreal in 2005, when he won the Gold Jupiter. He had been given a CD of Montreal-based Tango music, with some classic Quebecois composers' music being given a Tango setting. He told me that there was one particular song, "Pendant que" by Gilles Vigneault, interpreted by Montreal-based Argentina and Uruguay born Romulo Larrea & Veronica Larq, that he felt he wanted to use in a display if he ever returned to Montreal. Tomorrow he will realise that ambition.

Other pieces cover composers such as Astor Piazzolla, who was thought to have broken the Tango tradition but is now viewed as a master innovator in its development as well as modern Tangos that include Jazz/Fusion influences. Gaston explained that he wanted to create many different feelings and emotions around the music and hoped that the audience would feel what he and his crew do when they hear the soundtrack.

To give life to those feelings, the Argentinian team have built some very special motorized effects that will allow the fireworks to dance. They also have 31 special "sticks" that are replete with special short duration gerbs and other effects which will also be used to make the fireworks dance.

Mainly European products are being used with shells from Igual, studatas and other special shells by none other than Benito Pagano, others from Vaccalluzzo, nautical shells from another Italian manufacturer, some Chinese products and special effects made in the USA by NextFX and Le Maitre. Show design was done with both ShowDirector and VisualShowDirector and Gaston told me they're using 227 FM-16 modules - about 70 more than their last appearance in Montreal, but most of these are being used for the special effects.

He told me he was very proud to have been invited to Montreal and his team were enjoying their visit. We both hoped that the weather cooperates tomorrow so that everyone can get up and dance with the fireworks.


Here's a photo of me and Gaston.

Thank you for the interview Paul. It gives a fair bit of insight into what should be a pretty interesting display. Out of curiosity, what kind of history does the International des Feux have with live music performances? I know Weco did a very good job using live music five years ago but has anybody else done anything similar?

While the theme seems kind of thin I will go into the grandstands tomorrow night with an open mind.

Let's hope the weather cooperates.

Tyler

Tyler,

Live music performances are rare in the competition history. This is one reason why Weco's performance in 2004 was outstanding. The same year, a pre-show with popular singer Ginette Reno occured before the off-competition opening display. It was about five-minute long and was done in the framework of the official ceremony. She did a medley of some of her famous songs. Reno has (or had?) the habit to attend a couple of displays every year and her interest for the fireworks competition was well-known. Other than that, I don't remember any other live music performance since I attend every single show, that is, in 1996. And I don't remember having read anything about a such performance before that time.

Fred