The initial concert in a series of music shows planned over the coming months was headlined by Yusuf Islam/Cat Stevens - also on his first ever live appearance in the Middle East - and was completely sold out, attracting a capacity audience of 2,800 including 221 VIPs and senior members of the Qatari Royal Family.
Kenkaato is a new company established by Sarah Whitmarsh and Daryl Payne to provide imaginative, turnkey, full production solutions for all types of live events.
Both Whitmarsh and Payne have extensive experience working on a variety of large scale and high profile productions in the Middle East region.
The company's brief for the MIA Park show from the Qatar Museums Authority included the provision of complete event production and co-ordinating all the technical and logistical elements needed to make it happen. The Museums Authority were especially keen to have a single-source production company putting the show together, giving them just one point of contact.
In addition to this, Kenkaato dealt with all the logistics, artist negotiation, artist liaison and travel arrangements both locally and internationally. They also advised on a marketing plan and promotion for the series of concerts, which are intended to become a regular Doha cultural highlight.
Kenkaato's on-site team in Doha included production manager Chris McDonnell and artist liaison Rebecca Bryant.
Kenkaato themselves designed the site layout, which included a bespoke roof system, with plenty of space and weight loading to be able to accommodate international productions. This was evolved with the help of Ross Cameron and Al Laith Event Services' Qatar operation, in collaboration with Serious Stages, who engineered the new roof and were onsite for the install.
Lighting and sound came from Creative Communications Group (CCG), Qatar's leading professional lighting and sound rental company.
For audio, an L-Acoustics Kudo system provided quality sound throughout the venue. The lighting included over 50 Clay Paky Alpha series moving heads, assorted conventionals, and was also to the spec of Yusuf Islam's touring LD.
Architectural lighting for the stage and roof structure was designed by Michel Khairallah from CCG, who used Griven Kolorado 4K colour changing wash fixtures to highlight its clear lines and distinctive shaping.
Yusuf Islam's manager Majid M Hussain commented after the event, "Yusuf, his band the Roadsters and our crew really enjoyed the experience. Everything was made easy, from the technicals to the hospitality and that's what helped make it such a special first show for Yusuf in the Middle East. The stage was fantastic and it was befitting for Yusuf's repertoire to be out in the open performing his hits."
Says Whitmarsh, "From the beginning, we had a definite look in mind and when all the elements came together, it was exactly what we wanted - beautiful, elegant and worthy of the huge team effort."
Director of the Museum of Islamic Art, Aisha Al Khater, comments, "The Yusuf Islam concert was talked about all over Qatar as being truly spectacular. As the first major international concert to be held at the Museum of Islamic Art Park, the bar has been set very high, and I very much look forward to collaborating with Kenkaato on making the forthcoming series of concerts a major attraction to Doha's cultural landscape."
(Jim Evans)
