Press Review
« Lights, drumbeats…let the Concert of Fire begin »
Flashes of brightly coloured lights shot through Choa Chu Kang last night. And a frenetic pounding of drums filled the air. Residents rushed to thier balconies, which were suddenly lit up as brilliant colours streamed into their homes, and their window panes started rattling.
To their amazement, right in front of Lot 1 shopping centre, blinding fireworks were shooting high into the sky. But isn’t the National Day Parade several months and many kilometers away ?
Actually, it was the Percussion Commandos performing a preview of the Concert of Fire, this year’s Arts Festival closing act.
And what a finale it is ! Dizzying percussion pieces by the group of nine Frenchmen go with 400kg of fireworks, which keep coming at different points during their hour-long performance.
« Percussion and fireworks »
« It’s very simple, why we do this », said artistic director Raymond Gabriel, « Percussion makes boom, fireworks make boom too ! ». Each musician pounds away on specially designed drum sets that can spew sparks. So far, nobody has been seriously injured by the pyrotechnics since the company was set up in 1994. But despite the blinding show of light, Mr Gabriel stresses that the music comes first.
« The fireworks must be justified by the music, » said Mr Gabriel.
« We are a musical band first of all, and our music is the common thing that reaches out to everyone. »
Music lover or not, grab this rare opportunity to catch the Percussion Commandos at Lot 1 shopping centre.
The New Paper, Singapore
« Drums at night, fire in the sky »
An ending with a bang, certainly not a whimper, as fireworks and drumbeats signal a fitting farewell to this year’s Arts Festival. Concert of Fire, by French group Les Commandos Percu, combined wild percussion and pyrotechnics to provide a fitting end as the Arts Festival’s closing event.
The performers underscored the visual experience with steady and furious percussion.
With all kinds of fireworks shooting every which way above the stage, it was a light show that certainly delighted. « I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s really wonderful, it’s better than the National Day ! ».
The Straits Times
« (…) A personal folklore »
Armed with their special instruments, they perform their personal compositions. « We create our own folklore. We consider ourselves from nowhere and thus it is as if we came from everywhere, which is close to the African myth of the speaking drum ». said Raymond Gabriel. « in our shows, we don’t use words, it’s the drum that speaks. » And wherever they perform, the audience positively receives the imagination and creativity of the Commandos.
The New-Caledonia acclaims them. The finale was as a symphony : triumphal. »
Les Nouvelles Calédoniennes
« Les Commandos Percu : they create fire !
…At the end of the concert, we wait : « strong, powerful. Never seen such a thing !». However, their sort of battledresses must not fool you., these pacifist musicians set off bombs. Crackling thunder, explosions at the end of innocent drumsticks. A lamp screwed onto their foreheads, they attack their handmade instruments with a tough rhythm and a dry, forceful tap . The sounds alone are enough to convince but the firework display starts and astounds us.(…)
(…) They make their way through the crowd to reach the stage. A halo of fascinated people follow them as if they were attracted, magnetized by the brightness and warmness of the fire. Sparklers are lit and given to the crowd. Each individual is turned into an active part of the show . The night sky is crossed by lightning sparks, like a surrealistic Milky Way. Saint-Vaast and the beffroi light up, suddenly splashed by a fire coming from far away.(…) »
La Voix du Nord
« (…) Moments of tenderness »
This folklore, if nothing less, surprises us from nowhere, with these musicians and their specific instruments : the iron drum which is tapped at 800 turns per minute by a drill and screw, sheets of titanium from airplanes, an instrument like « balafon », a chime. The most powerful and energetic musical and pyrotechnical scenes are subtly alternated with moments of tenderness stolen from this brutal world. »
Dernières Nouvelles d’Alsace
« The third millenium’s fireworks is born !
(…) For the thousands of people who saw the show during this first night of Escales 2001, the next fireworks will be insipid. »
Presse-Océan
« Les Tombées de la Nuit / a hot day and a tremendous show»
(…) We didn’t regret being there. They performed a great show. As a matter of fact, they can give life to their rythms without boring the audience and surround them with the most beautiful effects, fireworks, flames, lights. It cracks, it explodes, it spreads all over, it lights up the eyes. Startling ! (…) »
Ouest France
« Musicians of fire and percussions»
(…)They are called the Commandos because their show is like a bomb which generates an earthquake. It’s like the eruption of a volcano , a burst of light that sweeps everything away, an explosion of drums and fireworks, not a bursting of noises but an alchemy of sounds .
« Everything that makes a bang interests us. A noise is an unpleasant sound ; a sound is a pleasant noise. We collect all noises to turn them into sounds » explains Raymond Gabriel.(…)
(…)«The fire is not another element of our show but more of a material. Each one underlines and emphasizes the other and they both form a precise, musical score. »
« One missed shot of fireworks equals a bad note ! » (…) »
Ouest France
« The audience as a partner
(…) Frenzied drummers and experts in fireworks, the French Commandos Percu sculpt the night on a forceful party air. In their wake they leave some cosmic vibrations, a tremendous energy, a human wave punctuated by sparks. (…) Their show branded the Festival of « Chassepierre 2000 » with a glowing, dazzling iron. »
La Libre Belgique
« When percussions shoot…
It would be a euphemism to say that the Draguifolies were on fire for the ones who attended the Commandos Percu’s show.
A deafening stroll, playing with all our senses lead the audience to a state of hypnotism .(…)These French musicians are explosive and full of genius. »
Var – matin, August 2000
Articles:
http://cronicaslondres.blogspot.com/2006/06/pirotecnia-tamborilera-les-commandos.html