Large Robe Investment in Qatar

	Lighting operator Joselito Del R Tablanza; Dion Da Costa, head of lighting at IAC-Qatar; Steve Eastham, international customer support from Robe Lighting; and Angelito Miguel, lighting operator.

AL ISTEKLAL IAC-Qatar is a busy rental and technical production company based in the vibrant Middle East cultural hub of Qatar ... that has just taken delivery of 148 Robe moving lights to boost their current rental stock.

AL ISTEKLAL was founded in 2004 by Akram Hamada to supply premium lighting, sound, and AV packages -- together with staging, rigging, trussing, and all associated infrastructure -- to a wide range of clients in the Qatari market The scope of their work encompasses concerts, festivals, live events and spectaculars, television and theatre productions, corporate events, and product launches as well as multi-sector fixed installations.

They now service over 100 diverse and varied shows and events annually, and have built a reputation for great standards of excellence, experience, and being able to offer a proper "full production" solution that is delivered with imagination, flair, and efficiency to all clients.

The first investment in Robe started in 2012 with the purchase of 24 LEDWash 600s and this was followed by another 24 LED Wash 600s, 24 Pointes, and 24 LEDBeam 100s.

The newest fixtures -- 48 Pointes, 36 LEDWash 600s, and 64 LEDBeam100s -- were supplied by Robe Middle East. "These three models of luminaire all complement each other very well on one hand ... and are also all extremely good in their own right for specific tasks," commented AL ISTEKLAL project and sales manager Elie Salameh.

He also explains that they continued to choose Robe for several reasons, a major one being because the brand is now stipulated on most of the important technical specifications and riders coming their way. "It's definitely the best and most popular moving light brand right now."

Additionally, the company says it thinks Robe products are well thought-out and engineered with excellent features as well as being suitably priced.

On top of that, there is the excellent support from Elie Battah and his team at Robe Middle East, which is headquartered in Dubai. "The service is amazing, very fast, totally professional, and very knowledgeable -- from the sales through to the technical and everyone you encounter in the company," underlines Salameh.

The Qatari market is currently buoyant for AL ISTEKLAL who undertake a lot of high-profile government projects and have built up a good base of regular and loyal clients as well as fixed installations in a selection of hotels, clubs, and theatres.

Recent projects include the Chi Al Shaqab Equestrian Championship which they have serviced with technical production since 2013, and the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Qatar Summer Festival which they have delivered for the past three years as well as Qatar National Day in 2015 and 2016 and the Qatar Exxon Mobile Tennis Championship last year.