08October

ROCKING THE LEGENDS OF JAZZ

On 11 and 12 July 2014 Hugh Masekela and Lira headlined the Legends of Jazz show, held at the Guy Butler Theatre in the 1820 Settlers Monument. Legends of Jazz was part of the Standard Bank Jazz Festival at the National Arts Festival (NAF) which celebrated its 40th Anniversary this year. Tina Le Roux – Naledi Award winner for lighting design - was asked to develop and programme a lighting show that would complement South Africa’s top Jazz musicians.

By Jesse Dullabh (Entertainment Lighting - Technical and Controller Support)

Hugh-Masekela-in-Concert NAF2014

The NAF is notorious for tight turnaround times, and Tina acknowledged that without the programming strengths of Martin Professional’s M-SERIES she would not have been able to light these Jazz Legends adequately: “The versatile programming technique and user-friendly platform allows me to generate states and looks in a very short time. This allowed me to focus more on my design, knowing that the Martin’s complex hardware capabilities could handle the strain.”

Tina also had the opportunity to experiment with Martin’s MAC Viper and MAC Quantum range of fixtures and was impressed by both of these award-winning products. The MAC Viper Profile is a new breed of high-output profile luminaire, with an exceptional feature set, superior light quality, and a highly efficient optical system. It outperforms all market-leading profiles in the 1200-watt range and is a worthy alternative to 1500-watt fixtures. The Vipers’ power became a core element of Tina’s concept, with funky designs involving gobo work, as well as air-effects that complemented the different aspects of the shows. The MAC Quantum gave her a tremendous amount of scope, and even though she had only two units it nevertheless comprised a full palette that allowed her to fill her canvas with stunning artwork. “The ability of the fixture to generate live motion, while remaining true to its core ability (true wash light) was impressive”, enthused Tina.

Lira NAF 2014 Bazil-RaubachA0000

Both performances were sold out, and musicians and audience members alike applauded the design and execution of Tina’s lighting show: a befitting accompaniment to the home-grown legends of the Jazz world.

The diversity of these awarding-winning products is a credit to Martin’s investment in research and development. As Tina put it, “Using the new generation of Martin light and control fixtures is very exciting. I look forward to using this equipment in the theatre sometime in the near future”.

Inventory that Tina had at her disposal included:

6 x MAC 250 WASH
5 x MAC AURA
4 x MAC VIPER PROFILE
2 x MAC QUANTUM
1 x MARTIN M6 CONSOLE
120 x GENERIC DIMMER
2 x JEM 24/7 Hazer

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Posted in Lighting Archive