Norway's fireworks display was both spectacular and dramatic

Brno – Norway's North Star Fireworks and their chief and designer Andreas Helle brought Nordic Noir to Brna. Their show was inspired by detective stories from the pen of Jo Nesbø, complemented by Norwegian electronic music performers.

"We will tell a story, not do a purely impressionistic show. We are bringing the same amount of big shells to Brno as we did back in 2019, so the finale will be awesome and perhaps a little bit louder than last time," promised the show’s designer Andreas Helle in an interview before the fireworks show. Reactions from the audience during the pyromusical confirmed that he wasn't lying; there were enthusiastic whistles from the audience between each song, and one child spectator during the show summed up his feelings by saying "yay, that's beautiful!"

The Norwegian team prepared a variety of fireworks for the audience, including golden comets, multi-coloured cherry bombs with effects reminiscent of a star swarm and various artillery shells, supernova cans among others. The designers also worked with the water surface – with effects that danced right above the water. Pauses between songs gave the show a dramatic atmosphere that was reminiscent of the specific feeling that comes after reading a suspenseful chapter in a detective book. "This was the biggest fireworks display I have experienced here, I am still absorbing it," said Andrea Supakova, summing up her impressions.

North Star Fireworks took home four of the five awards in 2019, all except the one for music. "This year it's a friendly competition, we arrive happy and leave happy regardless of the outcome of the competition," added Helle. That deciding the Winner of Winners will not be easy was also indicated by the comments of viewers on social media. "For me, this is the absolute winner," commented Jana Gajdosova on the live stream. But on Wednesday 21 June, the audience and jury will enjoy one last show of the year, Grande Amore from the 2021 overall winners, Göteborgs FyrverkeriFabrik.

Before the Norwegian fireworks, the second drone show of the year, called Mysteries of the World, took place. 200 drones were accompanied by music and spoken commentary by Zdenek Junak, an actor and moderator.

The explanation of the greatest mysteries on both Earth and in the whole universe began with the appearance of an unidentified flying object UFO, a phenomenon that grew in popularity in the 1950s. Drones over the surface then formed into an even older mystery – the pyramids, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. At the very end of the show, the legendary Loch Ness monster from Scotland appeared close above the water's surface.

This unexpected Loch Ness Monster mystery was also appreciated by the audience. "The Loch Ness Monster was the best," said little David.

"We started preparing months in advance. It took over 100 hours to program one show alone, and that's not counting the concept creation, editing, tuning and music composition, which is inherent to the result," revealed David Zaoralek, head of Spectrum Production, the company that produced the drone show.

Dominika Lišková
The author graduated from FSS MU in Brno,
for more information from students of the faculty visit Stisk online

Photogallery: Robert Vystrčil