Festival Mawazine - Rhythms Of The World takes place in the Moroccan capital Rabat and is patronised by the country's King Mohammed VI. Featuring live concerts, street shows, art and creative workshops, it is noted for hosting performances in a wide range of venues.
One venue - the Roman and medieval ruins of Chellah - featured an all-digital audio system, which was the result of close co-operation between Sennheiser France, Sennheiser Global Relations, K-array, Innovason, Rabat-based audio company HLO / TLS and French technical production specialists Espace Concept.
Espace Concept's Alain Roy designed the system, which featured a K-array front-of-house system (comprising two KR 400K high efficiency drivers and two KL12 subs) and 12 Km8 wedge monitors; three Sennheiser EM 3732-II wireless microphone receivers with SKM 5200-II handheld microphones; 16 Neumann KM 185, six KMD 143, six KMD 105 and two KM 184 digital microphones and three Neumann DMI 8 digital microphone interfaces.
Completing the system was an Innovason Eclipse mixing console, used for both FOH and monitor mixes; two Technologies YouCan FANOptics network multiplexers, two FANConvert i/o units and a Digigram 1616V2 EtherSound interface. Amplification for the FOH system was by Powersoft K3 amps, with two Nexo NXAmps and a Yamaha DME4io providing power and processing for the monitors.
Further Sennheiser microphone systems - including 10 SKM 2000 handhelds, eight SK 2000 bodypacks, two SKM 5200 handhelds, 12 MMD 935-1 and MMD 945-1 microphone heads, two MMK 965-1 mic heads and eight EM 2050 receivers - were supplied by Sennheiser France for use in the OLM Soussi and National Theatre Mohammed V venues.
Very much living up to the festival's remit, the Chellah digital system was used for artists from across the globe, including Colombia, France, India, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Mali, Mongolia, Tunisia and South Africa. Playing many different traditional instruments, the all-digital system ensured that the subtle nuances of every performance were heard by the audience.
"Most of the music played at Chellah was unfamiliar to the audiences, so it was very important for every part to be heard clearly," says Youssef Agueni of Sennheiser. "Throughout the festival we had a sound engineer at the venue who provided technical support for all the performances. At the start of each day, he explained the system to the artists and their sound engineers, its many advantages and how to get the most from it."
Pierre Morant, Sennheiser Global Relations Manager EMEA, adds, "It's a great pleasure to have contributed to this event particularly rich in culture, music, and exchanges."
(Jim Evans)
