A collection of talents: Afrikaans is Groot calls grandMA2 on stage

posted:

08/03/2015

Within just six hours of ticket sales opening, the Pretoria leg of the show “Afrikaans is Groot” was sold out. The Cape Town leg followed suite with its three performances selling out by the end of that day. With artists like Juanita Du Plessis, Theuns Jordaan, Steve Hofmeyr, Bobby van Jaarsveld, Bok van Blerk, Robbie Wessels, Lianie May, Karlien van Jaarsveld, Jay, Riana Nel, Jannie Moolman, Arno Jordaan, Jak de Priester, Corlea Botha, EDEN, Dewald Wasserfall and more, the show promised to be a hit.

Featuring this amount of talent meant that the set and production had to be on point. Designed by Michael Gill and built by Gearhouse SDS, the set was the perfect balance of light and metal finishes. The lighting was conceptualised and programmed by Mauritz Jacobs of Dream Sets. Jacobs thoroughly enjoyed the task. His basic objective was to light for a live show that had five LED walls to compete with, and also light for the DVD recording.

The show used 1 x grandMA2 full-size, 1 x grandMA2 light and 1 x MA VPU plus MK2 (Video Processing Unit) for control while in the rig 24 x Clay Paky Sharpy, 24 x Alpha Spot HPE 1500, 12 x Clay Paky A.leda B-Eye K10 and 12 x Clay Paky A.leda B-Eye K20 as well as multiple Robe fixtures could be found.

A production of this magnitude is no mean feat. It was for this reason that the team called on, for a second consecutive year, the project management skills of Denzil Smith. Smith’s meticulous planning, along with his passion ensured that his MGG team, the sole technical supplier, put many hours of hard work into the pre-production and build.

While the Moreleta Church Auditorium catered for some 7100 audience members and was perfectly central and well maintained, the team had to overcome a few obstacles with regards to rigging points and height restrictions. Jacobs also recalls how the show “looked beautiful on stage, but we couldn’t see anything on television.”

“Not only were the audience and the performances phenomenal, but the team that pulled this show together was too. With a project of that magnitude, it’s all about team work. If everyone didn’t pull their weight, it wouldn’t have succeeded,” said Jacobs. “A special thank you must go to the entire team from MGG Productions, and to Herman Wessels and Marcell Wahl whose efforts did not go unnoticed.“

DWR Distribution CC is the exclusive distributor of MA Lighting in South Africa.

MA Lighting International, based in Paderborn, Germany, is the dedicated sales, support and service entity for the renowned control systems, digital dimming systems, networking tools and media servers of MA Lighting Technology, based near Wuerzburg, Germany. The product range offers cutting-edge solutions for control and dimming, including the award-winning grandMA2 consoles, the MA onPC command wing and MA onPC fader wing and reliable digital dimmer racks and packs. With its innovative MA VPU (Video Processing Unit) MA bridges the lighting and video worlds.
Today, MA Lighting is respected for its technical knowledge and has achieved a unique international reputation for its operational philosophy. The company offers more than 30 years experience and strictly follows a professional user-centric approach, getting as close as possible to the market via its own international offices and support centres in the UK, North America, Latin America, the Middle East/India, Asia Pacific and Scandinavia/Eastern Europe/Russia – supported by a world-wide distribution and service network.