A spectacular fireworks display choreographed and synchronised to an awesome playlist curated, produced and performed by TWO LADS and a LAPTOP. Gamlingay Fireworks always punches above it's weight with a display worthy of a City event rather than a small Cambridgeshire village! After a 1 year COVID break, 2021 was no exception with many commenting that it was the best show yet - and with Titanium Fireworks designing and delivering the pyrotechnics this year (London New Year's Eve, Edingburh's Hogmanay, Adele finale at Wembly, Commonwealth Games, Glasgow, etc.), it's no wonder! Added to this was an awesome integral laser show by The Square in the Air and, for the first time, LIVE music! Founded and organised by the village School Parent-Teacher-Association to help raise extra-curriculum funds for the School, the Gamlingay Fireworks is one of the many highlights of the village attracting visitors from far and wide. No surprise that this year was a complete sell-out The Playlist was designed to reflect the changing emotions we've all experience during the first 18 month of the Coronavirus: Countdown (Thunderbirds) Mars - the Bringer of War (Holst) A Million Dreams (from The Greatest Showman) Lovely Day (Bill Withers) Sweet Caroline Only You (Yazoo) Fireworks (Harry Potter movie) I Want To Break Free (Queen) Game of Thrones (Theme) Now We are Free (The Gladiator) LINKS: Fireworks: https://www.titaniumfireworks.com/ Lasers: http://thesquareintheair.co.uk/ Music: https://www.twoladsandalaptop.com/ Longshot Video: https://garethsquance.wixsite.com/garethsquance Other Video: Dave Twydell, Adrian Semerene.

This instrumental version of "Ave Maria" uses the Gounod/Bach setting of this famous latin prayer with Gounod's melody superimposed on a slightly modified Prelude No 1 by J S Bach from his 24 Preludes and Fugues. The 'new' piece was originally published in 1853 as "Méditation sur le Premier Prélude de Piano de J.S. Bach" - obviously without Bach's approval (given he died nearly 70 years before Gounod was born!). Some would argue that Bach would never have approved this use of his music - for the prayer it accompanies is very much in the Catholic tradition and Bach was devoutly Protestant. However, the first verse words come directly from the Biblical account of Mary greeting Elizabeth who, filled with the Holy Spirit, exclaims "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear!". Upon hearing this endorsement of God's blessing, Mary spontaneously sings a song of praise to God. We think Bach would have approved of this detail. Whatever Bach may or may not have thought, had he known, the Gonoud/Bach setting of Ave Maria has become a much love and recorded song and instrumental used at weddings, funerals and quinceañeras (Latin American celebration of a girl turning 15). A couple of years after it was first published, Gounod arranged a version for violin OR cello with harmonium accompaniment - later lending itself suitable for Organ accompaniment. So here we present our own arrangement - with slightly augmented harmony and added beats in the second part - for Cello and Organ. We filmed in the beautiful Hatley St George Church in Hatley, S. Cambridgeshire which dates back to 1352!

Better known as "God Rest ye Merry Gentle", our arrangement of this ancient carol focuses on two imagined aspects of the Shepherd's encounter as told in verses two and three: 1) a celebration 'boogie woogie' style upon hearing the Angel's message; 2) the mission to find the baby somewhere in Bethlehem. Stylistic nod to Brubeck's "Take Five" and quotations from the "Mission Impossible" theme made this a really fun arrangement to both write and play. With thanks to Audio Morphology on www.freeesound.org for some of the drum loops we used in this production.