Byblos - A Month of Music


Jamie Cullum stands on a piano in case people at the back can't see him.


The huge grandstand is built out many feet into the sea...


The diverse line-up included musical theatre in the form of a six night run of Don Quixote...


...followed by rock veterans The Scorpions the following night on their farewell tour.

 

Unlike their European counterparts, Middle Eastern festivals tend to lean towards a month-long single stage format, with performances from a wider variety of acts over multiple nights to cater for a broader audience.

Nevertheless, while the schedule and style of line-up may differ, one aspect is very similar – the technology is becoming increasingly important. One of the most established summer festivals is the Byblos International Festival in Lebanon – first held in 2003 with the aim of promoting tourism in the region.

Over the years, it has maintained its broad mixture of musical performances ranging from opera and classical recitals, to jazz and rock acts. While this heady mix attracts a wide range of fans, it also requires a sound system that can perform well no matter what kind of music it is presented with.

Dubai based Delta Sound were tasked with meeting this requirement, having returned from the success of the 2010 festival. Delta Sound’s Andy Jackson remarks “The festival goes from a musical play to a full orchestra, jazz artists like Jamie Cullum, current rock acts such as 30 Seconds to Mars, to golden oldies like the Scorpions.”

He continues, “It’s covering a pretty good range of music which is what a month long festival is all about really. I think it’s great that they’re doing it, and they’ve done a great job pulling in the artists.”

The harbour in the city’s historic quarter provides a dramatic setting for the month-long event. The stage is at the bottom of a cliff peppered with historic buildings from the city’s 5000 years of occupation, whilst the grandstand is built out into the sea.

Flexibility is the name of the game with such a diverse line-up of acts, and with this in mind, the system processing was provided by three XTA DP448s and four DP226s. The system is reconfigured a number of times during the festival to ensure it performs at its optimum for each artist.

 



“We tune the system differently for each event,” explains Andy Jackson. “With the musical play, the stage set was over 40m wide – it was a big set. The PA was outside of that making it extremely wide and obviously not something you would want for a rock artist,” he recalls. This was an important factor because the day after the six-night run of Don Quixote finished, the Lebanon leg of the Scorpions’ farewell tour began, meaning a fast turnaround for the system.

The whole experience of the Byblos International Festival is certainly one that the Delta team enjoys. “We would very much like to do Byblos again,” concludes Andy “we will see what happens next year.”
 

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