Sunny International, the ultimate contestant to the 2008 edition of L'International des feux Loto-Québec, the Montreal International Fireworks Competition, did its show on Saturday, August 2nd. Titled ʺForever Loveʺ, the display was based on a Chinese story similar to the well-known Romeo and Juliet. In order to bring the audience into its story more effectively, the Chinese team has prepared a summary of the display and it was distributed to the viewers. Colour-printed on both sides of a sheet, it featured for each segment the music title, the main products and colors used, as well as a transcript of the narrative and photos. This unprecedented tactics (from memory) has been highly appreciated by several people.
Designed by Jim Shih, the display featured only products manufactured by Sunny International in China. At the beginning of the show, as a narrative explained that Zhu Ying Tai falls in love with Liang Shan Bo, comets were fired from the ground to the centre of heart-shape shells. Then, through the show, various kinds of pieces bursting in bees appeared, causing a real bees invasion in the sky! The lake came into life a couple of times thanks to nautical shells and spinning fountains. The soundtrack included a mix of Chinese and classic music, for instance Vivaldi's ʺPresto from summerʺ which allowed great note-synchronization sequences. Some segments of the narrative were stated by a female speaker, others were drawn from Édith Piaf's song ʺPlus bleu que tes yeuxʺ (not listed on the official soundtrack). Some sequences of the show can be watched here.
The Chinese team and the audience were fortunate to get dry weather conditions at the time of the fireworks, since heavy rain and thunderstorms hit the area in afternoon, early in the evening and resumed past midnight. These severe weather conditions forced pyrotechnicians to stop their work in the afternoon and lightning caused the launch of a shell.
That was the sixth display made by Sunny International to the Montreal International Fireworks Competition since its first appearance in 1992. It won the Gold Jupiter in 1992, the Silver Jupiter in 1993 and it was among the three finalists for the Platinum Jupiter in 2004.
The competition is now over, but the traditional off-competition closing show will be displayed on Wednesday, August 6th. The judges have completed their work right after the Chinese display and their decision will be released around 9:30pm on August 6th. It is very difficult to do any projection of the jury's decision, but readers can go on Paul Marriott's forum to get a better idea of the current state of the opinion.
Each night of the competition, master of ceremony Michel Lacroix introduces the display, pyro crew and various guests to the audience, in addition to pronounce the official countdown. It was the last appearance of Mr. Lacroix at the Montreal competition in 2008 as he will attend to the Beijing Olympic Games for Radio-Canada, the French-language television public network.
As Michel Lacroix announces the theme and provides some info about the show, the crew of pyrotechnicians arrives from the firing ramps to the floating stage on a boat, following a tour on the lake. Paul and Chris Souza, from Pyro Spectaculars (winner of the Bronze Jupiter in 2007 with an Elvis Presley-theme performance), joined Sunny team to setup the display.
Huang Huikang, Minister Counsellor and Deputy Chief of Mission at the embassy of China in Canada, spoke to the audience before the display. His speech has been augmented by an unexpected ʺspecial effectʺ as a power failure plunged the grandstands into darkness for few minutes.
Then, the audience and the crew stood up to the China national anthem performed by a singer, as the national flag was hoisted.
To enlighten the audience about the ʺForever Loveʺ story, a French-language narrative was used as various pyrotechnic devices appeared, like this fast sequence of comets.
Several parts of the Chinese display featured bee effects, that is, various clusters of small white stars moving quickly in all directions. At the beginning of the fourth segment, these bees were embedded in one-shot candles of red stars. They were followed by z-cakes of blue stars bursting in bees.
On the Chinese classic music ʺFalls deeply in loveʺ, candles shot several clusters of falling leaves, then followed above by shells of the same.
On the ʺExodusʺ music from the soundtrack of Ernest Gold movie, fans of purple meteor-headed electric comets.
Following the dead of both characters of the story, these fountains lit up on the fifth ramp during a more serene segment.
The Sunny International team, here with La Ronde crew, was welcomed with warm applause inside the Salon des artificiers following their extravaganza.
For a comprehensive report, more photos, a full video and discussions, please visit Paul Marriott's website, montreal-fireworks.com. Info and comments in French are also available on Mylène Salvas' blog.
The soundtrack of each firework display is broadcast live on local radio station 105,7 FM. To listen the music on the web, click here and select "Radio en direct" on firework nights at 10:00pm Eastern Time.
Text, photos and video: Frédérick Bastien.
