ABUJA, Nigeria — The MTV Africa Music Awards with Zain (MAMA), the first in a series of annual awards presentations that are to be staged in different African countries, came to life with a set and rig with 50 tonnes of gear air-freighted from Johannesburg to Abuja in a chartered jumbo jet. MTV, which has an ongoing relationship with Gearhouse South Africa, arranged for GHSA to supply lighting, sound, AV, LED screens and 25 crew members for the event, staged at Abuja’s Velodrome.
Bill Lawford and Eyal Yehezkely project-managed the event. Ireland-based LD Johnny McCullagh sent an initial plot and spec, and the Gearhouse team, led by lighting crew chief Jason Fritz, brought it to life.
The crew used a 20-meter, ground-supported upstage goal post to create the main set supports and entrances and exits. It was also used to hand some of the lighting fixtures. Everything else was rigged either off the venue’s catwalks or on a series of 8-meter-high vertical truss towers onstage.
The rig included 54 Martin Professional MAC 2000 Washes and 36 MAC 2000 Profiles, which were arranged around the truss and towers, and also covering the VIP entrance and front lighting the scrims. Thirty-six single PARs were dotted around the floor and on the verticals as well.
For audience lighting, the crew used 18 bars of 6 PARs, four 2K fresnels, 16 bars of ACLs, 24 single PARs for front light and another 12 single PARs for podium specials and washes. These were all hung from the catwalks above the auditorium.
Six 2K fresnels and 4 PARs were used to illuminate the VIP entrance. GHSA also supplied three Gladiator followspots at FOH, plus three 1.2K Strongs for truss spots.
McCullagh controlled the moving lights on an Avolites Diamond 4 supplied by Avolites’ South African distributor DWR, while Eugene O’Connor, director of photography, ran the generics from an Avolites Pearl 2008.
A key design requirement of the rig was that it had to be flexible enough to accommodate a diverse artist lineup, which included Kelly Rowland, The Game, Flo Rida, Asa, Cassette, D’Banj, P Square, Jozi, Sean Anikulapo Kuti, HHP and others.
LEDVision supplied a 5×5 Lighthouse R16i/o LED screen to back the presenter podium, fed by the Dimension TV OB truck.
The generators were sourced locally, and it proved challenging to find enough of them at first to power the rig. But after overcoming that challenge, the crew was able to deliver the first of the MAMAs without too many birthing pains.
For more information, please visit www.gearhouse.co.za.
