Once again, a wide range of world-renowned artists made up the programme - each leaders in their own artistic fields. And once again SGM lighting fixtures, supplied by local sales and rental company, Sybel Light and Sound, formed part of a complete technical package designed to turn the stage into a spectacular performance space.
Under the artistic eye of lighting designer Elyes Guizani, whose ideas were turned into reality by the Festival of Carthage contractors, pop artists such as Seal, Johnny Clegg and Héléne Ségara were joined by Arabic artists Sabeh Fakhri, Lotfi Bouchnak and Zied Gharsa. Increasing the international flavour were dance troop Fire of Anatolia, the French circus Mana and performances by magicians Prince of Illusion and Erix Slogan, and Gilles Arthur.
The predominant lighting and sound company in Tunisia, Sybel has been working with SGM products since its formation in 1993, and with the Festival of Carthage since 2001. Through constant investment, the company strives to remain at the forefront of technology, by maintaining a cutting-edge inventory.
For this year's event they were able to fulfill Mr. Guizani's lighting concept with 22 Palco 3 colour-changing LED fixtures - a light source consisting of 49 high-power RGB LEDs and 12 fully-featured (and silent running) Giotto Spot 400 moving heads, while12 IDEA Wash 300s constantly changed the backdrop with their evenly distributed beams, and 12 IDEA Spot 300's provided additional punch. These were designed into a generic rig, with the lighting for each show programmed according to the specific needs.
"The Palcos and Giottos are ideal because of the wide range of colour and beautiful palette, which can be easily customised for the different shows," said Marianne Södersten, marketing director of Sybel Light and Sound. "The LED technology offers not only a great flexibility, but the fixtures consume less energy and do not generate heat. Those attributes make them particularly attractive in the eyes of a festival organiser."
Among the Festival highlights were the performance by Fire of Anatolia, well known from their appearance at the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest in Istanbul, where the SGM fixtures helped trace the story in traditional Turkish dance of how fire was given to mankind. The performance included both line dances, traditional belly dance and modern choreographies.
(Jim Evans)
