Tamia Has Beautiful Surprise in Johannesburg

	Tamia in concert in Johannesburg with Robe.

Canadian singer / songwriter Tamia played three dates on her recent South African tour and for the two Johannesburg shows staged at the Carnival City Big Top Arena, lighting was designed by Magz Schoeman who used Robe moving lights at the core of her rig, including the venue's new Robin Pointes.

Schoeman is head of lighting at Carnival City and lights many performers visiting the venue with a schedule that includes a steady flow of international artists.

For Tamia, Schoeman had a free rein to come up with the design, and started with the music, which embraces multi genres including R&B, pop, hip hop soul, neo soul, and gospel jazz -- and so has a huge dynamic range for lighting as well as the performance.

"R&B / pop suggested to me lots of crystal pastel colors, gobos and texturing, and flowing movement so that's the way it went. It was huge fun lighting the show," comments Schoeman.

The Robe fixtures in the Big Top are part of the house lighting rig and include the six new Pointes, eight LEDBeam 100s, eight LEDWash 300s, four LEDWash 600s, and six MMX Spots -- all from Robe's Robin range. These were used for various different tasks in this show.

The design included four vertical truss sections across the back of the stage for extra lighting position and to add some structure, plus side stage trusses in the air and a front truss.

On the top section of each of the uprights were MMX Spots and Pointes and on the middle sections -- lower down -- were the LEDBeam 100s and the LEDWash 300s.

The 600E Washes were on the flown side trusses and the remaining 300E Washes on the front truss -- together with some other moving lights.

The MMX Spots were used for their gobos, for creating beam-technology looks, and as band specials and to highlight solos, etc.

The Pointes were used for effects, gobos, beams, and movement; the LEDBeam 100s for super-tight beam effects, key lighting, and motion dynamics; and the Robin 300 and 600E Washes for general stage and band washing.

Schoeman's favorite fixtures out of these is the MMX Spots.

She noted she likes the crisp quality of the lighting and the hard edged beam, the excellent color range, the dual graphics wheel, and the gobo selection. "They are really diverse" she comments, and were ultimately useful for a show like Tamia's to compliment the breadth of the music, ensuring that each different style had appropriate lighting and effects.

She also likes the Pointes. It was the first time she had used the Pointes to light a show, and describes their gobos as "awesome" and the colors as "lovely" together with the intense beams. "I totally get the Pointe," she declares!

She also likes the LEDWash 600s for their wide zoom and "eye-candy effects" using the individual LED ring control, and the little LEDBeam 100s for their "incredible speed" and rich colors.

Overall she says she thinks Robe is a great brand with a range of strong products and "fantastic support" -- which comes from DWR Distribution, Robe's proactive South African distributor.

Having the Robe moving lights in-house at Carnival City is making a big difference to the creativity and quality of the shows they can produce -- both for their own productions and visiting ones. Guest lighting designers are "always happy" to learn that there are Robes in residence -- and Robes are frequently requested when discussing specs with lighting designers and lighting directors.