Biggest ever show planned to celebrate National Day

The Qatar National Day celebrations on December 18 next week, will be the biggest ever organised in the country, Gulf Times has learnt.

Everything from the fireworks to turning the approximately 8km stretch of the Corniche into a grand open theatre has been planned compared to previous years.

The Qatar National Day comes at a time when a heightened sense of nationalism is sweeping the entire country after it won the rights to host the planet’s biggest sporting event, the FIFA World Cup in 2022, in the first week of December.

“I can tell you that the fireworks on Saturday will be the biggest this country has ever seen,” technical director of the pyrotechnic company Simon Ransom told Gulf Times.

Ransom has previously served as the technical producer of the world’s largest fireworks show at the opening of The Atlantis in UAE. His company is currently preparing for the upcoming Qatar National Day with French pyrotechnic specialists, Groupe F, the company which performed the fireworks for the opening of the Museum of Islamic Arts (in 2008).

“The spectacular fireworks have a full range of 360 degrees and will last for a whole 17 minutes,” Groupe F project director Jonas Bidault said.

“All products are specially custom produced for us in China. We will be utilising a massive 45 pyro platforms to launch thousands of shells,” Bidault said.

From December 3, a crew of about 40 has been camping at the Al Bandar jetty fixing mortar tubes, handling thousands of shells, and sorting out logistics at the firing site at the Palm Island.

From the MIA to Sheraton, the Corniche Bay is considered one of the best fireworks sites in the world because of a naturally-arched shape that crowds of thousands can turn to.

Speaking about the pyrotechnic composition, Bidault said: “There will be a lot of animation utilising Qatari flag colours. The whole show will be synchronised with music.”

The perfectly-synchronised music, heavily laced with Qatari folk tunes, will be heard throughout the Corniche , thanks to 22 smaller sound towers and six large ones installed across the stretch.

“We’ve been working on this for three weeks and work should be done by today. There will be a lot of tests to ensure flawless sound,” an official of Auditoire, another French company tasked with the sound system said.

To showcase all the activity live, another company Technopro, the contractor for the project, has been busy installing five giant screens on the Corniche.

“Three of them will be at the Emiri Jetty (near MIA), one at the Sheraton Park and another at the Rumaillah Park,” a Technopro official said.

The LED-screens measure 8m in width and 5m in height. The screens are being decorated by another French company, Le Décor Francais.

This year’s grand stage, a focal viewing point to witness the traditional parades on Qatar National Day, is also the largest ever built in the country for the celebrations.

“Last year, the length of the stage was 30m, but we have been asked to make it 42m this time. We understand HH the Emir will have a lot of guests this time,” an official of Arabian Profile, a 40-year-old UAE-based company said.

The stage is being designed to reflect the flag of Qatar.

It will look like a tent, held on white-coloured nine pointed bars made of aluminium, representing the nine-point serrated lines of the Qatari flag, and covered on top with maroon canvassed-roof.

“Work on this started on November 30 and should be completed around December 14. It will have seven steps and can accommodate around 200 VIP guests,” the official said.

Next to the stage, a Lebanon-based company has been tasked to install chairs for the thousands of spectators that are expected to watch the morning parade and the ceremonies in the evening.

“We are installing 11,000 chairs for the festival. This is significantly more than previous years,” an official said.

Elsewhere on the Corniche, the Qatar National Day Organising Committee (www.ndqatar.com), the umbrella organisation tasked with the preparations, has commissioned lighting and other accessories.

Palm trees dotting the Corniche Road have been fitted with decoration lights with some resembling traditional lanterns.

Buildings in the downtown have also started to get a makeover with giant flags being hung reflecting the passionate association of people with the celebrations.