The Canary Islands boasts one of the most spectacular and outstanding annual carnivals in the world, where the streets explode with colourful parades, outdoor parties and music events on every island.
This year was no exception with around 600,000 people coming to enjoy the exuberant display of colour and light. One major highlight was “Una noche en Río”, a show directed by Israel Reyes with a set designed by Carlos Santos, and lighting design and technical direction by Jonay Díaz, partner of RGB Canarias S.Coop.
Díaz’s lighting for this glorious show, which ran for 21 performances, was bolstered by 40 Ayrton Ghibli LED moving heads, supplied by GAM Eventos. The Carnival has gained a global audience and Díaz is very aware of how the eye-catching event transcends the borders of Spain: “The Drag Queen Gala is seen everywhere in the world with spectacular audience shares,” he said.
“For this reason, our choice of lighting equipment must be done carefully.” Díaz decided to rely heavily on LED technology for his design and chose to use the versatile Ghibli as both back and front lighting. “I have deeply researched the products offered by the market in 2019 to light a show like this and it is indisputable that LED currently outperforms conventional equipment,” assures the show’s lighting designer and technical director.
Ayrton’s Ghibli has many advantages in addition to reduced energy consumption and greater creative possibilities. “The projection of gobos is much more homogeneous,” he continues, “they offer unprecedented qualities in colour reproduction, and have better image quality, especially for TV, by almost completely eliminating annoying hotspots.”
Ayrton’s quality and reliability were also deciding factors when choosing fixtures for a show of such a magnitude as “Una noche en Río”.
“As a designer, I look for fixtures that are very versatile and as compact as possible since we do not always have a lot of space in the scenery,” said Díaz. “As an operator and programmer, I look for fixtures that are 100% reliable. I want everything to be seen throughout the show as it appeared when I programmed it.”
In the midst of the technological revolution that the lighting sector is experiencing, some brands are beginning to make a difference, and Díaz is convinced from his professional experience that Ayrton is going to have a lot to say in this whole process.
“I could count on the 40 Ayrton Ghibli we had in our rig,” he said, emphasizing the confidence he feels working with equipment of Ayrton’s quality. “They offered the greatest versatility and the best light output. We used 30 from the back of the stage and 10 at the front. They are the best spotlights I’ve ever used and I think we’re going to see them a lot in all the big events.”
Ayrton’s official distributor in Spain is Stonex, a national benchmark in professional lighting, stage engineering and emergency lighting, with over 39 years of experience offering comprehensive solutions for the show, entertainment and architectural sectors.