Many of you would've visited the Dubai Fountain this Eid. But did you know how it works? Here's the backstage story on how the rich repertoire of performances has been put together
Dubai: As the world's largest performing fountain, the Dubai Fountain in Downtown Dubai has attracted over 47 million visitors since its launch in May 2009.
If you have watched the shows one after the other, you will have noticed that the music accompanying the spectacle changes with each performance, thus reflecting a rich repertoire of classical and contemporary strains.
While the creators of the choreography have remained unsung heroes so far, they will now earn royalties every time their music is used. This follows a first-of-its-kind music rights agreement recently signed by developer Emaar and the non-profit PRS for Music and SACEM - who represent composers, songwriters and musicians - to license the public performance of music accompanying the fountain. And it has been no mean feat putting them all together, as XPRESS found out behind the scenes.
The main control room of the Dubai Fountain is located on the top level of neighbouring Dubai Mall. The choreography of each performance of the fountain is first created on a unique computer simulation programme called VirtualWET that, in real time, simulates the appearance of the water, including the effects of gravity and wind on water sprays.
"It is important to realise that the Dubai Fountain is the expression of an artistic mind," said a spokesperson for Emaar.
A brainchild of California-based design and engineering firm WET, the fountain pioneers the use of high pressure air to create choreographed water shows. "Essentially, this uses compressed air to drive water through the shooters - the nozzles used in the fountain - as expressions which are very fast, of variable height, and are repeatable.
These water expressions articulate the staccato or percussive effect of the choreography, and are impossible to attain using traditional pumping methods."
The legato portion of the water movements is created by robotic jets called oarsmen. They are the lyrical members of the water troupe and are self-contained robots which are fed power and data, and act as creative tools which the WET choreographer can draw upon. Some oarsmen have nozzles creating round streams while others have fans with wrist movements for endless movement and gesture creation.
Select musical pieces
The fountain performs to select musical pieces chosen by Emaar from a range of classical to contemporary Arabic and world music, including Turkish, western, Iranian, Swahili, Chinese and Hindi songs. The performances, which are scheduled at 30-minute intervals with individual songs ranging from two to 4.5 minutes in duration, are set to different themes. The songs are rotated randomly, ensuring that the library is utilised well.
"A musical piece that builds in strength as it progresses through a development of rhythmic variety is ideal for the fountain performance. On the other hand, even a popular piece of music that is relatively even or has a repeating melody can be difficult to interpret in a visually interesting way.
"One of the criteria for many musical selections is that they should be familiar to the audience and evoke fond emotions. The timelessness of the song is important. If it is too contemporary or trendy, it might not be acceptable for listeners of different generation groups, and may soon become dated or tiresome," said the spokesperson, adding their objective is to build a library of songs that appeal to Dubai's cosmopolitan population of over 180 nationalities, besides visitors.
The fountain also has a below-water colour imaging system that lends choreographed colour into the fountain from within the circles of water jets themselves. "It unleashes the magic of water and nature's elements to create shared experiences of movement, light and emotion that reconnect us with our world, with our senses, and with each other," said the spokesperson.
Fountain in figures
- 275 metres in length (more then twice the length of a football field)
- 150 metres is the height to which water is sprayed by the fountain - equivalent to a 50-storey building
- 22,000 gallons (83,000 litres) of water in air
- 83,275kg in weight in full sprout
- 25 colour projections
- 6,600 incandescent WET Superlights
- Two arcs and five circles
- 32km the distance up to where the beam of light from the fountain can be seen
Performance repertoire
Some of the musical performances included in the fountain are:
- Sama Dubai, an Emirati tribute to Dubai's leadership
- Baba Yetu, in Swahili from the Civilization IV soundtrack
- Shik Shak Shok by Hassan Abou Al Seoud
- Inshed An Aldar, an Emirati song
- Con te partirò by Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman
- Dhoom Thana by Abhijeet
- Waves by Bijan Mortazavi
- Bassbor Al Fourgakom by Emirati artist Hussain Al Jassmi
- I Will Always Love You by Whitney Houston
- All Night Long by Lionel Richie
- The Magnificent Seven by Elmer Bernstein
- Thriller by Michael Jackson
- Ishtar Poetry by Furat Qaddouri
- O Mio Babbino Caro by Dame Kiri Te Kanawa
- Enta Omri by Hossam Ramzy
- The Prayer by Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli
- Lana Allah by Mohammad Abdu
- Butterfly Lovers' Violin Concerto
- UAE National Anthem
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