Hi there! I am so excited to be able to say that the Philippine Team, Dragon Fireworks, won the 2013 Pyronale Fireworks World Championships! AND we were there to witness their phenomenal performance in person! It was the best way to end my birthday – with spectacular fireworks! Photos after the jump!
We had an early dinner with a few friends in our home, then off we went to the Olympiastadion (Olympic Stadium). There was an incredible amount of people when we arrived. We feared we wouldn’t find parking but the German organizers did not disappoint! They were guiding people to populate the parking area row by row, in an organized manner. The OC person in me was thrilled by the efficiency! My first look at the stadium took my breath away.
Because of the sheer number of people, it was a challenge to get in touch with the person holding our tickets. It’s a good thing he left the tickets for us at the gate. Outside the stadium there were people who brought chairs and blankets to watch the fireworks without having to pay for the tickets. This is the great thing about Berlin. There are so many happenings all over town and if you don’t have budget for tickets you can still find a way to enjoy it.
Inside there were a lot of vendors for wurst and beer, consequently there were also a lot of available toilets inside and outside of the stadium. So despite the amount of beer being consumed it was relatively easy to get to a toilet (just as long as you don’t go for the one near the entrances with long lines), just be sure to leave a small tip (€ 0.50) to the cleaning lady.
The night before (Friday, Sept 6) 3 teams had already performed:
- CROATIA Mirnovec Pirotehnika
- FINLAND JoHo Pyro
- POLAND Surex
Yesterday (Sept 7) the day we watch it was:
- PHILIPPINES Dragon Firewroks
- GREECE Kanellopoulos Firewroks
- SPAIN Pirotecnia Zaragozana
To give you an idea of how the contest goes, here are the rules according the their website.
For 2013, these were the 3 required parts to each performance:
- About 1 minute of fireworks without music, with a VIOLET & YELLOW color theme for 2013
- About 4 minutes to a medley of Johann Strauss “An der schönen blauen Donau” and Jacques Offenbach “Can Can” from “Orpheus in the underworld”, which is the same for every team.
- 10 minute freestyle to music which is picked by each team with the theme My Country.
This is the Dragon Fireworks (Philippines) performance. it’s long but I was amazed at how eclectic and creative it was! (I would never have thought to use tinikling music for fireworks, but they made it work) The video is long but really worth the watch. Feel your chest swell with Filipino-pride! It was mind-blowing and shows that Filipinos can compete at an international level and win!
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGj6d-51pak]
If you don’t have time to watch the entire thing at least watch the last 4 minutes, where in the colors of the Philippines light up the sky and make for a breathtaking and dramatic end!
UPDATE FROM ANDY BELOW:
Here’s the list of tracks used by the Philippine Team.
“Vivaldi vs. Vertigo” – David Garrett
“Business Part 1″ – Craig Armstrong
“Cerberus” (No Choir Version) – Audiomachine
“For The Win” – Two Steps From Hell
Just to give you an idea of how many people were there, this was our view in Tribune 2. There were many other tribunes and so many people in the standing only portion as well. Everyone was having a great time eating and drinking beers. There is also a special section for those who are on wheelchairs so the organisers had accessibility in mind as well. What a fun thing to do with entire family – young and old!
I got a bit worried during the performance of Spain because though their performance was more subtle, it was excellently timed and I could really feel the spanish flair in their performance! The music they picked was spot-on and oh-so-catchy! I loved their performance! Their flag colors also featured prominently in their show.
After the 3 shows of the night, we rendezvoused with the others and excitedly waited for the tallying and announcement of the winner. Dragon Fireworks (Philippines) was the “winner of the day” by popular vote among the audience (via mobile phone). Finland won bronze, Spain silver and the Philippines won GOLD!!! A well-deserved win! The host also announced that Filipino fireworks show designer, Vander Resurreccion Tenedero, is the youngest of all the pyromusical designers in the competition at 20 years of age. Amazing creative talent!
After the announcement, they had a closing show by the sponsor and I was feeling overjoyed and lucky that this opportunity to watch the Philippine team in the Pyronale 2013 came right smack on my birthday. I can’t imagine a more wonderful way to celebrate one’s birthday than by watching world-class fireworks shows?
Everyone started moving out but Mr. M thought we should brave our way in the opposite direction of the crown to go to the stage area and congratulate our team. We were like salmon swimming upstream, but it was so orderly and disciplined that we were able to do so without much stress. Some German even asked me “Aus Philippinen?” Hell yeah!!!
There were many people taking a picture with the group and I am happy I was able to get a decent picture with them!
Dragon Fireworks is the first ever Asian company in history to conquer the prestigious European Fireworks competition.
There were ABS-CBN correspondents covering the event. If I am not mistaken, the interview of Mr. M should be on the TV Patrol news on Sunday or Monday in the Philippines. Please watch out for it!
Mr. M thanking the German coordinator who made sure we got our tickets – Thank you!!
DRAGON FIREWORKS – PHILIPPINES
The company`s motto is “Safe, Quality Fireworks is Our Commitment”.
So what did you think of the Dragon Fireworks show? The Pyronale is an annual event. This year they are on their 8th year with 65,000 visitors. Please click on the link for more details: http://www.pyronale.de/
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thank you, this is very informative…
You’re welcome Kian!
Lovely pics! We went as well, but we go like proper poor folks and sit on the hill by Teufelsberg complete with picnic. Congrats to Philippines on the win!
Thanks Ebe! Hahaha! It was a work thing for TD (The Diplomat) so we were super lucky to get tickets. If not, we are too stingy to buy proper tickets for sure haha! A picnic sounds lovely! How about when you need to go to the toilet, how is the situation outside? For future reference!
the choice of music by the team was marvelous. i am trying to search for music they used after the “tanging yaman” but it is hard. i’m wondering if you have the list of songs they used during the competition? thank you 🙂
Hi Gabriel, feel free to get in touch with Dragon Fireworks directly. I placed a link to their website on the bottom of the post. Hope this helps!
Hi Gabriel and diplomaticwife!
Here’s the list of tracks used by the Philippine Team. 🙂
“Vivaldi vs. Vertigo” – David Garrett
“Business Part 1” – Craig Armstrong
“Cerberus” (No Choir Version) – Audiomachine
“For The Win” – Two Steps From Hell
🙂 🙂 🙂
Thanks so much for the info SuperAndy3000! I already updated the post to include the list of tracks.
You’re most welcome. 🙂
I really like how they incorporated Carol Banawa’s Tanging Yaman to the presentation. I don’t want to sound preachy and all that, but it was a brilliant display of thanking the Big Guy up above who blessed the team with such talent and creativity. The last part was also superb, and the title (and epic beat) of the song fits perfectly. Clearly, the message “Win or lose, we’re going to give them all that we have got tonight.” The signature fighting spirit of the Filipinos were very prominent as the sky was painted with the colors of the Philippine flag. 🙂
I may not be there to experience it in person, but I have seen Dragon Firework’s workmanship every time I attend UST’s Paskuhan. The last part reminded me of how they ended their pyro display during my university’s 400th year closing celebration, and I almost cried watching it. We were literally beneath the whole display and it was the most amazing presentation I have ever seen. 🙂
THX SUPER ANDY I’VE FOUND THE TRACK
Thank you so much for your blog! And you were right! My heart just swelled with pride while watching the video I felt like crying… Sniff! Sniff! Thanks again. You are one lucky girl. And belated happy birthday, too!
Hi AnaE, it was my pleasure to write about something that uplift the spirits of the Filipino people, especially with so much negativity happening right now. I know it might not be much, but every little thing counts. And this is a good thing, something to be really proud of. Thank you for the birthday greetings – I was one lucky girl indeed!
grabe, goosebumps all throughout the duration of the video. so much proud of this. Pinoy’s are really great :-))))
I totally agree with you. So much brilliance talent and creativity. We are lucky that the Dragon Fireworks company joined the event and gave it their all! I hope this promotes the Dragon Fireworks commitment to delivery spectacular pyromusical shows and it opens up a new market for them in Europe.
Finally someone wrote about this.. Thank you so much.. 🙂 Can I use some of your photos is my blog? Thank you and more power..
Hi Benj_dancer, you are most welcome. Thank you for asking me for permission regarding use of my photos.
You may use the photos that are on this post, with the condition that you will not change them (i.e. removing the watermarks), credit the source properly with links back to this blog post (i.e. when the photo is clicked, a new tab will open open of this particular blog post.
ABSOLUTELY STUNNING; BRILLIANT CHOREOGRAPHY!!!
Thank you for the blow-by-blow account of this spectacular show. What a great way to promote the Philippines in other countries. Tapos, winner pa! The Philippine entry chose great music and had a lot of “wow” factor. It was like the fireworks had choreography that synchronized with the beat of the music. And then came the last minute where they gave their all!!! What a blast!
Hi Tess, that is exactly what the Pyronale is all about! The Pyromusical World Championships is a place where the art of Pyromusical synchronisation can be showcased and in this case young Vander Resurreccion Tenedero (a 20 year old pyromusical designer, youngest in the competition) designed something so spectacular that the team won. Can you imagine the hours upon hours of work it took to design a 15 minute piece as complicated as this? Each seconds or fractions of a second is important to be sure that the fireworks are launched at the correct time so that it can burst into the sky in perfect time with the music, so the fireworks are “dancing to the music” chosen by the team.
word i can say is Marvelous!!, Amazing !! They make us all filipino so proud , cant compare to the one i saw here in dubai, Filipino are still the best … i also wish i could have the list of songs they use ,everything is perfect !!
I was so overwhelmed and really cried 😉 so proud of them.
we have been watching the International Fireworks Festival here in Belgium every Summer for the passed 4 years now, then i come across with this video of Fireworks Dragon Team’s winning entry to the Pyronale Fireworks World Championship in Germany, not because i am a Filipino…but i can honestly say it’s superb, i hope one of the coming years they will come to compete here in Belgium, too, that will be amazing.
Wow…. proud pinoy here… gives me goosebumps all over. Thank u diplomaticwife for posting this…. congrats dragon team! Job well done! Btw belated happy bday…. u watched it live, u lucky one!
The group is great.!I am nöt surprised with their winning though because I believe of the artistic and creative talents of Filipinos . Adding the challenge of showing the beloved Phil. to the world, makes
the show perfect. Thanks to the Group for the efforts and to you for sharing!!
All the superlatives to you!!!
Congratulations, you guys make us proud to be Filipinos and so proud of you.
Thanks for posting
Please i have been watching this over and over again.all i get is Goosebumps and i cant wait to watch the next compettion. Please tell me the finally song. i want to know what song was that. send me your reply on ian84_nicart@yahoo.com..please thank you
Hi Ian, kindly read the comment of SuperAndy to answer your question. Thanks!
how great thy art!now Philipines can claim to be one of the world´s best in Pyrotechnics.just imagine gaano kalaki kikitain nila kapag kinontrata sila sa ibang bansa.When Atlantis Hotel in Dubai opened mahigit $25 million dollars ang binayadan para sa fireworks lang..
Thanks for the posting. Reading your summary of the “show requirements” made me appreciate more the show progression, especially on the first silent parts. Congratulations to the Dragon Fireworks team, and Mabuhay Philippines.
Hi Joey, I am glad that you found the summary useful! I didn’t find out about the requirements until later on and I agree that it definitely helped me appreciate their show more. I had to watch the video of it with the requirements in mind to fully appreciate what was going on.
Thanks for dropping me a line. I always appreciate hearing from people.
Thanks for this post! It was nice seeing you in berlin! 🙂
It was my pleasure! It was lovely meeting you too!