South Africa:
Having recently invested in 12 Claypaky Axcor Beam 300s and four Robe LEDBeam 150s, with the help of DWR Distribution, Murangi Productions put these new products to work at the 16th Crown Gospel Music Awards.
Held at the 10,000-seater dome marquee based at Johannesburg’s FNB Stadium, The Crown Gospel Awards aims to celebrate excellence in the South African music industry. Ordinarily taking place at the Durban ICC, it was hosted in Johannesburg for the very first time in 2023. Having worked on the production on two previous occasions, Murangi Production’s Hendrick Nemalili was appointed to design the set and provide the lighting, audio and screens for the Awards.
He explained: “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 design a round-shaped stage to represent the FNB Stadium.”
The stadium’s architecture was influenced by calabashes – 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 in mind, Nemalili was inspired to look for fixtures that would be hung off a dedicated 16m truss FOH alongside some explosive beam work.
“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,” Nemalili shared. Izzett explained that the Axcor 300 Beam was Claypaky’s replacement for its Sharpy fixture.
“I thought, ‘okay this is the way to go’,” said Nemalili. “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 Awards were said to be a success. Nemalili concluded: “The client was so happy and we look forward to working on more events together in the future.”
