Getting Technical With The NAMAs

It was a glamorous affair at the Namibian Annual Music Awards at the !Nara Namib Industrial and Logistics Estate Building at Walvis Bay – from the minute you walked in until the end of the weekend.

Completed in 2015, the building, which belongs to the Namibia Development Corporation, was valued to over N$60 million and was designed to specifically become a storage area. However, the venue was transformed into the home of the biggest awards show in the country, complete with entrances where VVIPs, VIPs and the general public were separated from each other.

During Friday night, the building lit up to create a sparkling pillar effect to attract the masses. Although the outside may have been impressive, it was the technical set up of the NAMAs inside the building that wowed the most. But the first night was completely different than the second. Friday’s NAMAs saw a more intimate space created for the crowd, which included a blue carpet or the ‘blue room’ which was used for television interviews, radio interviews and a blue carpet analysis. Connected intricately, television cameras and blue lighting were placed in this area as well.

“We made provision for banners which were available to the public and a blue carpet for those coming in,” John Ekongo, MTC’s corporate communications practitioner, indicated. “The blue room was made smaller to make the venue compact.”

Friday’s seating was also free for those invited and they could sit wherever they wanted to.

This meant a slightly smaller stage and fewer seating arrangements. Three 32-inch television screens were also placed near the stage where those already seated could watch their counterparts walk the blue carpet and be entertained by interviews before the show began.

Friday also saw the event go more smoothly as free Wi-Fi was set up for the public, and it worked quite well. “A mobile tower was connected,” Ekongo said. “And there were about seven or eight streams of Wi-Fi. We also had encrypted codes and at least some sense of broadband connectivity,” he added.

With the event going pretty smoothly and being short and sweet, Friday’s NAMAs saw the audience leave a few hours before midnight.

Saturday was when all the craziness happened. Because over 600 people were expected, the stage had to be even bigger and better. And it was. Extending the stage to the back of the building, a cut-off area from the previous night was removed, creating a greater setup, not only for those who were at the venue, but for those who were watching on television.

This time around, a triple decker seating plan was arranged in the VIP section so that they could get a better 180 degree view of the stage. “Saturday required seat allocations and we included an additional elevated position,” Ekongo elaborated. “And the deck was created to give people an area to dance and not disturb others who are seated.”

On the other side of the action-packed venue, dressing rooms for the stars had their own allocated areas, complete with lights and mirrors. Although the mobile towers were also available, it seems that they went offline for a majority of the event, requiring media to scramble for their own internet devices. However, as the afterparty commenced at the same venue, the Wi-Fi miraculously came online once again.

There were mixed feelings about the NAMAs quality which was screened on television, particularly the main event. One Twitter user, namely @Xurob, commented: “The picture quality is very poor”, while others gave praise to the national television broadcaster such as

@Ckauraisa who said: “My eyes and ears are telling me the sound and picture quality on my TV is better this year. Well done NBC and MTC”.

But the streaming option on MTC’s website was no stranger to criticism either. Once again, viewers complained about the quality, while others enjoyed the transmission.

Overall, the video and sound quality may have been questionable, but a majority appreciated the time and effort that went into putting the NAMAs together. It was indeed an event to watch.