JEDDAH, 30 June 2003 — Angel Gonzales is a walking contradiction. A quiet and modest man, preferring to stay out of the limelight, his professional life is devoted to just the opposite, creating skies full of coruscations of sparkling light and thunder. Angel is the pyrotechnician behind the Jeddah Festival’s most popular feature, the huge public fireworks display.
“I try not to talk to the press,” he said. “What I do is quite public enough.”
Born in Spain and living with his family in Barcelona, Angel spends up to nine months of the year traveling the world. His involvement with the Jeddah Festival this year is his first visit to Saudi Arabia, although he is a frequent visitor to other Gulf states.
Pirotecnia Igual, the company that manufactures, exports and mounts the displays, is one of the few remaining fireworks manufacturers in Europe. “There are tremendously complex procedures to observe concerning manufacturing, storage and transport of these very powerful explosives,” he said.
The family-owned firm, started in 1880, is world famous for its creativity and quality of product. It has many famous events to its credit, the 1992 Barcelona Olympics being one Angel is particularly proud of.
“We have won the Golden Jupiter several times,” he explained, “the equivalent of the yearly world championships of pyrotechnic displays in Montreal.”
The company puts on over a thousand displays a year around the world. One of Angel’s proudest achievements is the 11-site synchronized display along Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro.
“We lit up 5 km of beach front and attracted more than three million viewers,” he said. “Even Michael Jackson can’t do that.”
These are no ordinary fireworks. Many have the power of artillery shells. The biggest Angel brought to Jeddah is a 42 cm mortar that yields an aerial burst 300 meters above the ground. Each shell can cost over $300 (SR1,100) and weighs over 20 kilos. “We mix the chemicals in specially designed cement mixers,” he said, “and to get the special effect we need, sometimes we add dry rice. It’s cooking with explosives, really.”
“Safety is the No. 1 consideration in a public display,” said Angel. “We use aluminum mortar tubes that will not fragment into shrapnel should a shell go off prematurely. Most of the smaller shells are launched from high-density plastic tubes. That deforms into a balloon shape in the event of an accident.”
To set up the displays in Jeddah, the team imported 5,000 kilos of pyrotechnics and 12,000 kilos of mortar tubes to set them off. “Security of the explosives is excellent,” said Angel, “The police have been wonderfully helpful to us.”
“We never repeat a show, or even a single performance,” he said. “The whole fun of the job is to create something new and special each time.”
One of the pyrotechnics unique to Pirotecnia Igual is the Palm Tree. When synchronized correctly, it forms a 100 meter golden palm in the sky, complete with the trunk touching the ground.
“Even the Chinese and Japanese can’t do that one,” he smiled, “We export it to them.”
The essence of the show is the balance between spectacle and sequence. “Big bangs and spectacular lights are impressive,” said Angel, “but the secret of a really good display is in the choreography — the different heights to which the fireworks rise — and the timing. Sometimes we use computers, but they have been known to fail.”
In Jeddah, the fireworks will be ignited electronically, but controlled by the highly experienced technicians in Angel’s team. “We wanted people here to remember us,” he said, “so we are trying to do something special for them.”
One of the very unusual mortars which will be used in the North Corniche display this coming Thursday is the “Water Shell,” which bounces across the sea in a series of explosions.
To watch Angel and his team at work, visit the Corniche opposite Westin Hotel each Thursday at 11 p.m. during the Jeddah Festival.
