fireworks of edinburgh, scotland

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Whatsonwhen tells us that every november at Meadowbank Stadium & Sports Centre hosts Edinburgh's largest fireworks display.

PRINCES STREET GARDENS, EDINBURGH
EACH year the verdict of the many thousands who gather for the Festival Fireworks Concert seems to be that it's the best year yet, and this year was no exception. For a start there was Romanian conductor Nicolae Moldoveanu, who, being Transylvanian knows the sources of Brahms's Hungarian Dances and Dvorák's Slavonic Dances first-hand. Under his spirited direction the Scottish Chamber Orchestra brought dancing lyricism to the unforgettable melodies and tantalising rhythms that are the essence of this vital music.

There can be no more magnificent backdrop in the world than Edinburgh Castle for an exuberant synthesis of music and fireworks such as this. The four tonnes of explosives and 100,000 fireworks which the Pyrovision team take six days to lay out take only 45 minutes to go up in smoke, but it always seems much longer. This year, the pyrotechnicians used red and green coloured smoke from which fountains of molten gold released cascades of red firecrackers, as well as golden fireflies, Catherine wheels and a series of mini-waterfalls, as well as the great silver waterfall that is a perennial highlight.

Moldoveanu's choice of pieces offered a heady mix of the serenades and high-spirited folk dances of village fiestas that evoke a gypsy spirit in their fluent mood switches from melancholy to wild passion. And while they are based on old Bohemian couple and round dances with unfamiliar names - such as czardas, furiant, skocná dumka, starodávn and kolo - it was clear the actual pieces are alive in people's musical unconscious even if they were only aware of this when they actually heard them.

This is the only classical concert I know of where everyone hums along when they're not crying "wow" and "ooh" or just laughing out loud at the crazy beauty of it all.

source: the scotsman

A firework is classified as a low explosive pyrotechnic device used primarily for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. The most common use of a firework is as part of a fireworks display. A fireworks event (also called a fireworks show or pyrotechnics) is a display of the effects produced by firework devices. Fireworks competitions are also regularly held at a number of places. The biggest fireworks event in the world is held in Madeira, Portugal at the New Years' Eve celebrations, as documented in the Guinness World Records.

Fireworks (devices) take many forms to produce the four primary effects: noise, light, smoke, and floating materials (confetti for example). They may be designed to burn with colored flames and sparks. Displays are common throughout the world and are the focal point of many cultural and religious celebrations.

Fireworks were originally invented by the Chinese for entertainment purposes, as a natural extension of the Chinese invention of gunpowder. Such important events and festivities as Chinese New Year and the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival were and still are times when fireworks are guaranteed sights. China is the largest manufacturer and exporter of fireworks in the world. China is estimated to have exported over 6 million cases or 120,000 tons of fireworks to the US in 2005.*[citation needed]

Fireworks are generally classified as to where they perform, either as a ground or aerial firework. In the latter case they may provide their own propulsion (skyrocket) or be shot into the air by a mortar (aerial shell).

The most common feature of fireworks is a paper or pasteboard tube or casing filled with the combustible material, often pyrotechnic stars. A number of these tubes or cases are often combined so as to make, when kindled, a great variety of sparkling shapes, often variously colored. The skyrocket is a common form of firework, although the first skyrockets were used in war. The aerial shell, however, is the backbone of today's commercial aerial display, and a smaller version for consumer use is known as the festival ball in the United States. Such rocket technology has also been used for the delivery of mail by rocket and is used as propulsion for most model rockets.

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fireworks

I was always curious to know how do they het those splendid pictures of the fireworks
well...sewjr24 tells us how!!!!