Fireworks by Grucci amazed residents and guests at the four day Eid al-Fitr celebration in Doha, Qatar.  The fireworks were presented as a gift to the local audience by the Katara Cultural Village. In a joint cooperation between the Grucci family and Qatar based Innovations Unlimited ME, the beautiful fire-light show danced in the night sky to a traditional instrumental soundtrack.  The incredible show of color, light and music astounded all of those in attendance!

GULF TIMES - AUG 23rd

Fireworks: more to it than meets the eye

By Noimot Olayiwola Staff Reporter

As thousands of residents yesterday turned out to view the grand fi nale of the fireworks show at the Katara Cultural Village, little did they know how complex was the series of mechanics involved in the setting up of the amazing show that is such a virtual feast for the eyes.

During a sneak preview of the behind-the-scene computercontrolled pyrotechnics and choreography of music organised for the media yesterday, it was found that an enormous amount of effort went into the entire set-up, which was enabled through a partnership between two companies – the New York-based Fireworks by Grucci and Innovation Unlimited Middle East.

Fireworks are a class of explosive pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and ntertainment purposes such as fi reworks display. Two fireworks installations were set up within the Katara premises with the bigger of the two located by the beach at the old marine festival ground while the second one was installed at the Katara beachfront.

The installations comprised diff erent varieties as well as designs of fireworks wrapped up in shells and placed in mortars after being connected by many thin electrical wires to a control panel linked to a computer situated farther away from the exploding site.

The fiery bursts in the sky during the firework displays were actually from the round-shaped aerial shells containing black gunpowder, which causes them to rise high into the air before exploding into a riot of colours.

Most of the shells are around 10-12 inches (300 and 250mm) in diameter and the mortars are long tubes of diff erent lengths placed in a freestanding steel rack.

Different genre of music ranging from instrumental to opera and movie soundtracks have been choreographed alongside the movements of the fi reworks in order to ensure there is something for everyone among the viewers.

It was the first time that music was made an intricate part of a firework show, Innovation Unlimited’s John Jossifakis said. “The firework display involves a complex series of mechanism, which is why we teamed up with the leading company in firework show – Fireworks by Grucci, which is presently holding a Guinness World Record for delivering the largest fireworks in the world,” he said.

He explained that the show, which is a Eid gift from Katara, off ered residents of diff erent age groups and backgrounds the opportunity to congregate adding that the shows were unique and never been seen before.

However, the display has got more to it than meets the eye as Fireworks by Grucci’s pyrotechnician Joe Mercante said: “The whole process about the fireworks here began a few months back when we started to plan with our local partners on how best to carry out this event and we have been working for six days on site with some 50 workmen including 14 pyrotechnicians and a lot of other technicians.”

He said that getting the fireworks, which are explosive items, into Qatar, also involved getting the approval of all the required government agencies such as the Ministry of Interior for airspace approval as well as chemicals and other related products importation approval.

“A lot of efforts have gone into the beautiful and amazing display, which is the end product, that people come here to enjoy,” Mercante said adding that the fireworks were installed putting into consideration the diverse culture as well as the emotions of the residents of Qatar by choosing the music and colours that are best suited to them being an international audience.

“Before we choreograph the music, we listened to all the soundtracks we will be using many times and blend in the scenes of colours using a script,” he said while showing off the script. He mentioned that the colours were selected based on the scores of music as well as according to the dictate of the clients.

“Apart from being part of the manufacturing team, while purchasing our fireworks, we also carry out testing and re-testing of a variety of fireworks in order to choose the best and the safest ones, Mercante said while mentioning that his company has a full-time person on ground in China to check the market and choose the best fi reworks for them.

The components of the pyrotechnics are procured from China, Spain and Dubai, according to Jossifakis.