Fireworks display to be in tune with music

FIREWORKS will shower the sky over Victoria Harbour for 23 minutes on Sunday in a state-of-the-art symphony of rockets synchronised to music by computer.

''When it [the music] is twinkling, the fireworks will be twinkling. When it's big, the fireworks will be big,'' said Mr James Souza, the president of Pyro-Spectaculars, the American firm which is setting up Hongkong's display for the 10th time in 12 years.

Thirty technicians were busy yesterday at the Western Dangerous Goods Anchorage gingerly positioning 12,000 rockets on four 27-metre barges.

On Sunday morning, the barges will be towed to firing points facing Kowloon, Wan Chai and Causeway Bay.

Mr Souza suggested that people heading to the harbour take a radio and headphones to listen to the soundtrack, which will feature a variety of music, from the Rolling Stones to movie themes.

The music will be broadcast on RTHK Radio 2 and Radio 4.

To mark the incoming Year of the Rooster, the display will feature an elaborate combination of 100 rockets named the Silver Whistling Rooster.

But the technicians admitted that even the latest technology could not produce a convincing rooster.

In fact, the only similarity between the Silver Whistling Rooster, which will last 30 seconds, and an actual cock is that both are noisy.

''It's more symbolic of the rooster,'' said Mr Souza. ''You can't make it a rooster - not yet.''