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Summer Season

Unbelievably, I celebrated two years in Muscat last month! Time is flying by and our dark time in the Opera House over the summer is coming to an end. Working regular hours is somewhat of a novelty to those of us used to working in commercial theatre, so we are all keen to make use of the evenings and weekends. Finding activities to avoid the searing temperatures of summer in the desert is all part of the fun!

Recording in ‘Tunes’ music shop in Ruwi and ‘The Guitar Centre’ in Al Khuwair.

Recording with ‘Pulse and Soul’ -a local band

At the end of Ramadan, I was asked to do some recording for a local band, ‘Pulse and soul.’ The musicians are all teachers at the ‘Classical Music and Arts Institute.’ Using their show equipment and a newly purchased Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 we produced several tracks that can be used for promotional purposes. We also filmed the recordings.

The live music scene in Oman is complicated to understand as an outsider. Laws carefully regulate where and when live music can be performed. International hotels and private ceremonies such as birthdays and weddings are the main platforms away from the Royal Opera House.

After the first set of recordings, it was decided that we should also produce some tracks recorded in a more intimate setting. The drum room at the private music school in Qurum was transformed into a recording studio, and we started recording some different combinations of performances. Using the larger Focusrite Clarett 8 Pre X we started recording multi-track for more post-production flexibility. Of course, this produced much better results regarding audio quality but the downside of this being that more time was required for editing. Trying to fit this around all of our work commitments started becoming increasingly challenging!

Renaissance Day in Salalah

On the 23rd of July, Oman celebrates ‘Renaissance day.’ This is the day that the Sultan of Oman, Qaboos bin Said al Said, came to power in 1970. Various events take place across the Sultanate and the day is a public holiday. To celebrate in style, my friend and Education Manager of the Royal Opera House, Lisa Navach, visited Salalah in the South of Oman.

The trip takes about 1.5 hours by plane or 12 hours by road. We opted for the flight!

 

Salalah is famous for its yearly tourism festival. This takes part during a season called ‘Khareef.’ The lush green landscape and cooler temperatures are a welcome break from summer in Muscat. Hiring a car meant that we could easily get around and do some off roading to find empty beaches with pure white sand. Bliss!

Back in Salalah, the festival was a complete cultural submersion into traditional music and dance of the Dhofar region. Slightly more conservative than Oman, there were few Western tourists, and we really felt that we were experiencing a true insight into a region that feels very in touch with its traditional roots.

All Men, women, and families have different seating areas in the audience for these displays of traditional music and dance. All performances were being transmitted live on television across the Sultanate!

Next week I will travel back to the UK for my annual leave. I’m preparing myself for the reverse culture shock that I am bound to experience back in London! The season at the Royal Opera House commences in September with an exciting programme of Ballet, Opera, and music from around the world.

 

Challenges

If you’ve ever helped a child learn to read then you will understand the agony and sheer determination that is required to succeed. As adults, we often forget what is required to undergo the ‘learning process’ and place too high expectations on ourselves. Often we pick new ideas up as we go along without giving much thought to how we got there.

This month we’ve been lucky enough to welcome the Arabic megastar, Mohammed Abdou, to the Opera House.

Mohammed Abdou was born in Saudi Arabia in 1948. He had a rough start in life. Six of his siblings and his father died of smallpox, meaning that he, his mother, and two other siblings had to live in a hostel for orphaned families. At the time, Crown Prince Faisal funded schools for orphaned children and it was there that he has said that he, ‘learned how to live and depend on himself’.

At the end of his schooling, he took any work that he could find, starting by selling sweets and nuts in the local market. Eventually, he earned enough money to join a vocational institute. By the time he left, he was able to support the family and they moved into a new house. It was in this new location that Mohammed met a neighbour who was an expert ‘danat’ singer. Danat is a type of Arabic song that comes from central Saudi Arabia. During a ‘Sama’aie party’ (A classical Arabic music gathering) Mohammed sang one of the songs he had learnt from his neighbour. He was heard by a singer called Omar Kardras who took him to a recording studio in Jeddah to record his first three songs.

In his 40 year career, Mohammed Abdou has produced over 200 albums, his style influencing generations of Arabic music and reaching far across the globe.

And so, the two concerts at the Opera House sold out within weeks of release. An extra night was added to help meet demand. For us as a sound and broadcast department, it was certainly one of the largest Arabic bands that we had seen. Starting with 82 inputs this was increased to 87 during rehearsals as more backing singers were added.

As with a typical Arabic concert setup, soloists including an oud, qanoon, nay, and accordion were placed center stage with a violin section to the left and a percussion section to the right. Two keyboard players also played solo sections. Behind the soloists were a typical woodwind and brass section, drummer, bass, guitar and backing vocals.

Given that we were in our ‘concert setting’  we tried to limit the number of wedges onstage and use IEM’s as much as possible. We used a combination of wireless (Shure and Sennheiser) belt packs as well as 4 Behringer Powerplay units for the percussion section and Sound Device MM-1 units for the bass, drummer, and guitar. The violin section, backing vocals, and woodwind and brass all had Meyer UPM or UPJ monitoring and Mohammed Abdou, 2 MJF’s. An additional UPM was added for the Maestro.

Rehearsal Line Check

In addition to our own built acoustic treatment of the room, we also used clear acoustic panels between the percussion and soloists. Extra attention needed to be paid to aesthetics as Oman TV filmed all three nights!

If Abdou can teach us anything, it is that no matter our beginnings, hard work and determination will eventually pay off. The battles we overcome today will become part of a much larger picture.  Once again, we are left in the wake of this concert feeling that the learning that we gathered in previous challenges produces greater knowledge and success moving forwards.

Military Music

On 18th of November, Oman celebrates ‘National Day’. Every year Omanis celebrate with great pride the independence from the Portuguese in 1650. The 19th of November is also the day that His Majesty, Sultan Qaboos bin Said al Said’s birthday is celebrated.

Given the importance of November, the Royal Opera House celebrates accordingly. This time we move to the ‘Maidan’. This area in front of the Opera House is the perfect setting for outdoor concerts and events. The Military event involves members of all of the military forces and the police. It can be compared to the Edinburgh Tattoo in format. It is a hugely popular event and is free to attend.

The line-up for this year included performances by The Republic of Korea army and The Central Orchestra of Georgia Armed forces and National Folkdance Ensemble.

As a department we make use of our extensive in house stock. Bruno Silva our assistant head of department is in charge of designing the system and opted to hire a Digico SD7 for the FOH position and a SD10 for the monitors/ broadcast position. Our M’elodie line array from the main house is de rigged and re rigged onto truss also hired from a local company. 8 Meyer 500-HP subs, a single UPQ (used as a side fill for bleacher style seating) and 2 UPJ’s for a VIP seating area were also used.

The load in time was carefully scheduled from 4pm to midnight for 4 nights so as to keep out of the sun and searing heat of the Middle East. Despite being November, temperatures can still reach the mid thirties (degrees celsius) at midday. We often forget it is so warm outside when we are in the lovely air conditioned auditorium!

 

Soundcheck and dress rehearsals were scheduled over two days in order to ensure that work did not take place during the hottest period of the day. The first day comprised all ‘local’ acts. This included marching bands and displays from the Army, Navy, and Royal Air Force as well as the Royal Omani Police. On the second day, we welcomed the Korean ensemble. Each act was introduced by commentary in Arabic and English. The two commentators sat next to the front-of-house lighting and sound positions.

It is the uniqueness of creating an event like this in Oman that it is so incredibly satisfying. The excitement generated is a sure reminder of His Majesty’s vision for his Opera House.

 

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