D.A.S. Audio Helps Convey The Message at AbhangaNaad in India

On February 21, AbhangaNaad: The Voice of Devotion took place on the grounds of Shivaji University in Kolhapur, India. Featuring approximately 2,500 Warkari (devotees of Lord Vithoba) singing in unison and accompanied by 1,350 Dhols (traditional Indian "Dhangar" drums), the event celebrated divine love in the presence of His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, also known as guruji. This massive concert attracted more than 120,000 devotees plus another three million television viewers throughout India. Sound reinforcement for an event of this magnitude required loudspeaker systems that could project over a large area with excellent speech intelligibility and music reproduction characteristics; chosen for the job was D.A.S. Audio's Aero Series line array system.

Organized in a bid to attract youth to Indian folk traditions, AbhangaNaad featured devotional songs and meditation as its base. Further, the concert was officially entered into the Guinness Book of World Records as one of the largest such events of its kind. This all took place on the biggest stage ever erected in Kolhapur; the venue had a circumference of almost 20 acres. Mumbai, India-based Sound and Light Professionals was contracted to handle sound reinforcement for the event.

"The concert took place on a magnificent multi-tier stage that was around 200 feet wide by 80' deep, and 15' in height," said Manish Mavani, the company's director. "Sculptures from various temples and replicas of Lord Mahalaxmi, Jotiba, and Vitthal adorned the stage. Accompanied by the choir and the drums, noted devotional singers Ajit Karkare, Balasaheb Waikar, and Tukaram Powar sang abhangs and bhajans [devotional songs]. The fact that the venue grounds were arranged in two levels posed a unique challenge for us. Secondly, with the stage being 200' wide, the sound convergence at the center of the ground from the left-right stacks posed additional issues. Fortunately, our EASE Focus calculations and the broad horizontal dispersion of the Aero 48s really helped us achieve remarkably even coverage throughout the area."

For the primary front-of-house hangs, Mavani and his crew, which consisted of system engineer OS Cijith, font-of-house mix engineer Ramdas Kalasker, and stage engineer Pramod Vetker, flew four loudspeaker clusters per left-right side -- each consisting of eight D.A.S. Audio Aero 48 large format line array elements. For center fill coverage, the team deployed an additional stack of four Aero 48s. These were augmented by several Aero CA-28 line array modules spread across the front of the stage for front fill coverage. Three delay towers -- each with eight D.A.S. Audio Aero 48s and positioned roughly 150' apart-completed the setup.

For the musicians' and vocalists' monitoring system, Mavani's crew placed another 20 custom loudspeaker columns. These columns consisted of a combination of D.A.S. Audio's Avant 12A powered two-way loudspeaker enclosures and Sound and Light Professionals' own proprietary loudspeakers. Lab.gruppen PLM 10000Q Powered Loudspeaker Management systems and XTA DP448 processors completed the system.

"Being a music- and dance-based show, sound was a major factor," Mavani said. "Our aim was to ensure every note from the stage-be it the choir of 2,500 vocalists, the drum beats of the 1,000+ drummers, or the soft meditative speech of guruji , reached the audience in its proper dynamics and presence. This is where the D.A.S. Audio Aero 48s versatility showed up brilliantly. While some of the performers initially had concerns over how their singing would come out over the sound system, ultimately, they were amazed at the clarity we achieved -- all due to the exceptional horizontal coverage of the Aero 48s. By the time the program ended, the organizers, musicians and, most importantly, the audience were all extremely pleased. Since that time, we've been re-hired for more such future events. When one project leads to another, that's as good as it gets."