Musical juggling at Guinness Sounds of Greatness play-off

Tough judges who were in no mood to boost egos, ruled at last Thursday’s Guinness Sounds of Greatness first Play-Offs held at Usain Bolt’s Tracks & Records. The evening started out with six sound systems, two of whom would be eliminated, and although the selectors worked hard to impress, the observation from one member of the judging panel, midway through, was that the sound systems had failed to really move the crowd.

Of course, there had been bursts of appreciation from the audience up until that point, and early selector, Black Bwoy, was memorable, even if not for all the ‘right’ reasons. From the get-go, he brought the kind of badness that creates a hype in the dance.

Black Bwoy just stopped short of declaring war, and to show how purposeful he was, the young man boldly stepped from the stage onto the bar table, mic in hand and without missing a beat. But he had to be stopped in his tracks after his “Any man straight and clean buss a blank” comment, which had the emcee telling him that those lyrics just wouldn’t cut it.

“This is the platform to put yuh to the world, yuh nuh haffi shot nobody... yuh can throw a pebble ova deh.”

That cut his flow somewhat, but his performance was still enough for him to get some props.

Rockwildaz from Central Village was up next and played it safe, while still being entertaining. Songs such as Sizzla’s Rise to the Occasion; Barrington Levy’s Murderer; Half Pint’s Greetings; Bushman’s Call the Hearse; Vybz Kartel’s Nuh Fraid a Nobody; and Chan Dizzy’s Nuh Strange Face had the crowd jumping and saw them jump into round two.

It was onto the next sound, and a flip of a coin brought Juggling Sensation to the stage for their 15 minutes of musical juggling to see if they could convince the judges to send them through. They succeeded.

“The judge seh novody nah move the crowd,” commented Juggling Sensation, and clearly taking those words as a challenge, the sound delivered.

Acknowledging the presence of the Almighty, which is typical in the dancehall, Juggling Sensation opened with a scripture and an exhortation: “All who seh Fada God put up oonu hand inna di air!” even as the lyrics “ rooted and grounded in the name of the Lord” came through the speaker boxes.

Sizzla’s Rise to the Occasion was also one of their selections, as well as Bob Marley’s Who The Cap Fit; Buju Banton’s Wanna be Loved; Lady Ann’s Informer; Tiger’s Wanga Gut; and Shabba Ranks’ Love Punanny Bad. Selecting another gear, they reached for tunes such as Vybz Kartel-Masicka collab Infrared and Chi Chi Man, at which point the team was stopped and cautioned for violating the rules.

Yush followed and did an entertaining set, which was enough to also secure them a spot in the next round.

The judges for this season of the Guinness Sounds of Greatness Sound Clash 2024 are Keith Walford of Bass Odyssey, Shaun ‘ZJ Chrome’ Chablal, and Davy ‘Tall Boss’ Scott.

yasmine.peru@gleanerjm.com