A Night of Glitz and Glamour: 24th Anugerah Juara Lagu

Malaysia – Stars shone brightly on Sunday night as Malaysia’s top entertainers gathered to celebrate the prestigious 24th Anugerah Juara Lagu (AJL). Often dubbed as the most reputable and respected local music award, this annual affair is attended by the who’s who in the local music scene. Organized and produced by local television station, TV3, the show is fortunate enough to be graced by the presence of Datuk Siti Nurhaliza, Misha Omar, Aleya, Bunkface, Black, Hujan, Aizat Amdan, and Stacy. Needless to say, this year’s event is another high-profiled star-studded affair.

Held in Putra Stadium in Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur this year’s show is clearly in a league of its own. The night’s coveted top award went to 20-year-old Aizat Amdan for his beautiful rendition of Pergi (Theme from the late Yasmin Ahmad’s movie, Talentime). His uplifting performance was accompanied by back-up singer Alinda Alphonse with her classical Indian-inspired singing and also an erhu player. Consistent with the night’s theme of simplicity, his performance doesn’t rely much on elaborate lighting or dancers. It was just a beautiful poignant moment in which he showcased his raw talent and vocal.

Utilizing a unique theme of Origami, the show successfully catapulted the brilliant simplicity of the exquisite paper-folding art for its lighting and stage design. For the lighting system, Mr. Siswa Azmi from Mubari Light Sound Sdn. Bhd. picked the prominent Italian pro-stage lighting brand, Clay Paky to illuminate the breathtaking stage. “For a prestigious and grand event like this, we will usually go for the best brand available. For me, Clay Paky is one of the most flexible and reliable brand out there”

For the main stage, a total of 146 moving heads were used. Out of the total, 80 units are of Clay Paky’s products. This includes 50 units of Clay Paky Alpha Beam 300 and 30 units of Clay Paky Alpha Beam 700. “Clay Paky is among the pioneer in the intelligence lighting field. Thus, it is not surprising to see Clay Paky being utilized in various prestigious events (Anugerah Skrin TV3, 8TV Superstar Finals and AJL 2008). For me, I have total confidence in Clay Paky. They have years of experience in manufacturing beams!”

For that reason, Mubari also acquired a new inventory of 30 units each of Clay Paky Alpha 700 Beam & 700 Spot HPE from their trusty supplier, Acoustic & Lighting System Sdn Bhd. The new 700 Spot HPE combines spectacular effects, ease of daily use, simple operation and environmental sustainability to create a new generation of moving head for graphic effects. The small and light-weight body houses an array of optical and graphic devices that includes a zoom with electronic focus and electronic dimmer.

Apart from that, this also officially marked the first time an Alpha 700 Beam is used on a Malaysian stage. Making its debut in the grand and prestigious AJL couldn’t be more appropriate. The Alpha 700 Beam is a special unique luminaire that able to propel parallel light beams visible even in the brightest scenes. Its extensive range of effects makes it the most versatile of the Alphas 700. Innovative and complete, compact, service friendly and easy to install and use; the Alpha 300 Beam can produce a superconcentrated near parallel light beam that emulates the effect Par 64 ACL. In addition, this reliable moving head can also produces three times the brightness as that of an ordinary 1200 W wash projector.

This year, AJL chose to utilize a longer and broader stage. This will of course result in a higher number of lighting equipments and moving heads used. “The biggest challenge is to provide sufficient lighting coverage to the entire stage. The stage design is significantly broader and longer compared to last year’s. Thus, we need to make sure all the equipments are able to cover the entire arena of stage. Luckily, with Clay Paky, there’s no problems arising and it maintains a smooth operation at all time”

For an award ceremony to fully live to its hype and expectations, a well-designed lighting and stage display are of fundamental importance. According to one of the audience, “Imagine a show with dull lighting and poor stage direction. It will surely suck all the energy away from any performance! For this, I have to give props to AJL for their lighting system. I’m 100% sure that the lighting designers had given their best and work around the clock to achieve this mind-blowing result. But all is worth it when they see the audience’s appreciation and mesmerization throughout the show! I was blown away by the entire performance”

Apart from that, the rest of the audience was also equally spellbound by the spectacular lighting display. Ms. Zarina feels that dazzling lighting effects were enough to keep her eyes glued to the show. “I was totally blown away. When Datuk Siti opened the show just now, I was transfixed on the whole stage design and lighting effects. It coincides with her performance beautifully! It just shows that every little thing matters when you’re giving your best in a performance”

With brilliant performances, it is vital to maintain a significant level of stage presence to keep the whole vibe of the performance strong. In other words, an impressive lighting system can reinforce and enhance a truly memorable performance. With the right combination of lighting and stage design, the desired performance can be delivered smoothly to the entire audience. And that’s the true spirit of showmanship!

Equipments supplied:

2 units of Avolites Diamond 4
1 unit of Avolites Pearl 2008
80 units of Robe Color Spot 1200
30 units of Clay Paky Alpha 700 Beam
50 units of Clay Paky Alpha 300 Beam
20 units of Clay Paky Stage Color Wash 1200
36 bars of Par 64 – 6 way/bar
30 units Par 64 loose
12 sets of Par 64 aircraft
16 units of Molefay generic lights
30 units of Color Kinetic – Color Blast 12
22 units of Color Beam – Color Ray
6 units of Ushio – UFS 2000 Xenon
8 units of Antari smoke machine