Lightning musicians
On August 13, as darkness fell, many residents in the village of Dacuo, Heshang township in Fujian Province, gathered in an open yard and enjoyed a marvelous "lightning" concert.
This was not the first time that the 10-strong band put on a show for their fellow villagers while bolts of 1 million volts ran through their bodies and coiled through the air. No, this is not a scene from a horror movie or the twisted imaginings of some Chinese Dr. Frankenstein.
Wang Zengxiang, 30, the band's founder and leader, is a major fan of the Tesla coil. The coil, invented by geek hero extraordinaire Nikola Tesla, is a transformer that acts as a giant lightning machine. It produces vast amounts of voltage at high frequencies and creates long bolts of electricity that arc through the air.
"When I was young, my family opened an electrical appliance repair shop. I have loved to study semiconductors and electrical equipment since I was a child," Wang told Fujian-based Southeast Express.
In 2001, he enrolled in the school of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering at Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University. This was where he first encountered Tesla coils.
Spending nearly all his spare time studying the coil, Wang succeeded in making a 1.2-meter lightning bolt above his house in June 2007. In March, he quit a comfortable job with an electrical company and devoted himself to his lightning band.
Shielded by protective clothing, performers play their instruments while generating lightning bolts of up to 4.2 meters. With clothing made of ferroalloy silk thread, performers can be insulated from the current which travels into the ground.
"If the idea is used in large concerts, the visual effect would be far more amazing than flames," Wang said, noting that his band, "Thunderbolt Fan," is the first to blend music with lightning in China.
The band is now rehearsing for performances across Fuzhou, the capital of Fujian Province.
Global Times-Agencies