Axcor Beams light Gospel Music Awards
- Details
The Crown Gospel Awards celebrates excellence in the South African gospel music industry. Traditionally taking place at the Durban ICC, it was hosted in Johannesburg for the first time. Having worked on the production on two different occasions, Hendrick was appointed to design the set and to provide the full technical comprising lighting, audio (including backline) and screens.
With three months to plan and prepare, he came up with the concept. “As the Crown Gospel Awards were making a debut in the City of Gold the idea was to integrate a suspended crown centrepiece and then to design a round-shaped stage to represent the FNB Stadium,” he says.
The stadium’s architecture was influenced by calabashes or traditional African pots. The shapes on either side of the stage symbolise the fields on either side of the stadium where people engage in various activities. With the design good to go, Hendrick was inspired to look for fixtures that would be hung off a dedicated 16m truss at FOH that would wow with some explosive beam work to add the finishing touch.
“I spoke to Robert Izzett from DWR Distribution, explaining that I had a big event coming up and wanted something that would create a Sharpy-type beam and gobo work,” Hendrick shares. Rob quickly set his mind at ease, explaining that the Axcor 300 Beam was Claypaky’s replacement for their popular Sharpy fixture, and better news still, that DWR had stock.
“I thought, okay this is the way to go,” said Hendrick. “I also spoke to our lighting technicians, Ntando Mvalo and Musa Mthethwa who recommended the same fixture. And then, because we already own 12 LEDBeam 150s, we made a decision to purchase an additional four units to incorporate into the show, just because the fixtures offer such great effects. This is a nice buy, trust me it’s a nice buy! I’m feeling confident, especially with these new lights.”
The show was a success! MA Lighting’s dot 2 controlled the lighting rig and the Murangi team included LEDBeams 350s to the mix, which Hendrick describes as a great combination. He concludes: “The client was so happy and we look forward to working on more events together in the future.”
