Local is mos lekker!
If you’re in your car in peak time traffic and happen to look up into the rear view mirror only to see a fellow driver with tears rolling down his face, it’s very likely that his listening to a joke or prank by the breakfast team from 94.7 Highveld Stereo.
But besides all the comic and mischief caused by the RAW presenters, there’s a lot of heart too, like the wonderful generosity shown as they change lives each year with the Christmas Wish List, and now recently, their tribute to Afrikaans listeners.
“Why Afrikaans listeners,” you may ask yourself. Well it’s simple really. Almost a third percent of the 94.7 audience speak Afrikaans as their home language, and probably more importantly, the Afrikaans music industry is alive and rocking with great talent.
RAW Rocks was a showcase spectacular featuring some of South Africa’s most talented Afrikaans musicians, and was proudly hosted by 94.7 Highveld Stereo and Rapport at Sun City’s Superbowl on June 23. With names such as Kurt Darren, Amor Vitonne, Karen Zoid, Nadine, Klopjag, Ddisselblom and Joe F, ticket holders knew they were in for a treat.
“The function was five hours long but went so smoothly that we didn’t’ even notice,” said Kevin Glover from the Sound Stylists who pulled off all the technical requirements including the sound, lighting, projection and camera work. With over 60 lighting fixtures, consisting of Sound Stylists recently purchased Robe 575 Washes and Robe 700s, plus a variety of Martin units and 2k fresnels and procon molefeys for crowd lighting, the aim was to create a rock concert feel.
LD for the event was Sun City’s Heidi van den Berg. Given free rein with the design, she opted to give the stage depth, and did this by flying eight straight truss constructions with the help of eighteen motors.
Sound played a vital role. “We put in the new Nexo GeoD system which all of the bands were completely blown away with,” said Kevin. Also making its debut onto a show although we have been testing it for some time, was the Yamaha digital multicore system running on a cobranet platform. All mixing consoles used, including the one in the multirack recording van, were Yamaha PM5Ds.”
Overall, the talent on stage was simply put, in Afrikaans, “musiek uit die boonste rakke”. Said Kevin, “Performances were incredibly good and I was more than impressed with the standard. South African artists have nothing to be ashamed of.”
Looking beyond their own gain, 94.7 Highveld Stereo and Rapport allocated a percentage of ticket sales to Tapologo Aids Hospice and the Abraham Kriel Kinderhuis.
Equipment List
12 x Robe 575 Color Wash
12 x Robe 575 Color Spot
4 x Robe 700 Color Spot
6 x Mac 250 Entour
10 x Mac 250 Wash
12 x Mac 700 Wash
6 x Mac 700 Profiles
6 x 2kw Fresnels
12 x Procan Crowd Blinder
1 x Hog 2 with wing
17 x Bars of 6 Parcans
