Qatar Marine Festival, Doha. This annual event is built around the history of Qatar, which has grown at an extraordinary rate since the discovery of the country’s oil and natural gas.
The Emirate devotes these resources to its economic development, the promotion of its marine resources, the cultural identity of the country, and the education of the new generations, thanks to the organizational efforts of the Qatar Marine Festival Organizing Committee (QMFOC).
Visitors to the festival take part in a series of attractions, which the Organizing Committee works to transform into educational activities concerning five different focus areas: training, culture, the environment, sports and entertainment.
Such an innovative event is a must for Clay Paky.
Lighting designer Massimo Tomasino spoke to us about the most engaging moment of the Festival for him, the Clay Paky lights and the local and international audience: the Secrets of the Sea. This musical consisted of two fantastic hours involving over 300 artists plus the staff, 99 percent original music, 300 costumes, 16000 hours of rehearsals, and many technological solutions on stage.
The Secrets of the Sea was an outstanding fusion of Qatari and international music, which stems from a cultural exchange and huge cooperation between local and Italian artists. The composer Renato Serio composed the dance music together with Faisal al Tamimi.
Tomasino was very enthusiastic to be involved in this giant production. He cancelled all prior commitments in order to focus on the event, which the choreographer and director Gino Landi had already decided to entrust him with. There were several large moving elements on the set, including huge sails, which created a striking visual contrast between Qatar’s recent industrial development and its marine resources and Islamic culture.
It was essential to choose lights with lightweight bodies and extremely wide optical zooms to hang over the stage. A total of 26 compact, lightweight Alpha Spot HPE 700s, with their fast noiseless movements and electronic focus, were distributed among the delicate scenic sails, along with 26 Alpha Wash 700s, which have the light output, and graphic and optical performance of higher power wash lights.
Twenty-two Alpha Spot HPE 1200s were distributed, some along the front of the stage in order to provide the front lighting, and others between the tower and the set, some distance away. One Spot 1200 in particular was fitted inside the tower to create a lighthouse effect.
All thirty Alpha Beam 700s, with their visually imposing, super concentrated, long-range ACL beams, were perfectly recognizable even during the brightest scenes and were distributed at the back as backlighting. Their compact, lightweight, highly agile bodies enclose the most advanced technology for projecting beams of light, which may be coloured and shaped as desired for fascinating dynamic projections in midair.
The beam can be pointed at the audience or used as a dynamic sky-tracer colour changer, which provides lighting designers with totally innovative options.
Moreover Clay Paky lights ensure this innovation reliably even under difficult conditions: they were used for several hours, with temperatures of over 104°F (40°C) during the day and below 50°F (10°C) at night.