As the Guinness Sounds of Greatness competition continues to heat up, the Guinness bandwagon made its way out west, for yet another road show as the contenders enter the quarter final round. Whitehouse, Westmoreland was completely taken over by fans and followers of the bandwagon on Saturday night November 21. The crowd was, by far, one of the largest ever seen in Whitehouse and what it came out for, it certainly received from the talented selectors throughout the night.

On a night when the hype and musically gifted Black Blunt of Negril was dethroned by Frome’s, Black Widow and Bredda Hype managing to tame Black Kat, patrons were neither disappointed nor dismayed. As a matter of fact, patrons are probably still revelling from an exciting night of scintillating showmanship by the local sound systems.

For their efforts, both Bredda Hype and Black Widow are now $125,000 richer, courtesy of Guinness and will automatically move on to the semi-final round.

In the first of two clashes, Bredda Hype jumped out of the starter’s line-up and never looked back. He went on to win all three sets – juggling, tune-for-tune and dub-for-dub segments. The lanky but energetic mike touter, Bredda, obviously did a lot of home-work for his first major clash and offered good material in his flawless presentation.

“It was natural, we have the energy going,” Bredda Hype argued.

“This is our first major clash and we give thanks for it. We came here to win this clash for St Elizabeth and we leave here with more determination to kill more sounds,” said Hype, about his four-year-old sound system.

The feature clash was ‘mad’. It was an all Westmoreland affair with Black Widow representing Frome and Black Blunt, Negril.

The confident Black Blunt sporting his trademark avatar hairstyle and fresh from an upsetting victory over Exclusive, took centre stage first in the juggling set and delivered songs such as Merital’s My Money Ha Ha for the responsive crowd. He got the crowd jumping when he said “A bike run west” and sliced Bike back and a special, Life then went Gaza with Hustle di Money and Gone for the Money.

Making way for the white-clad, Bobby Fresh and Hosanna of Black Widow who were greeted with endless screams from their busloads of mostly female fans.

When Hosanna declared, “Give thanks, mi come fi kill a sound”, the crowd erupted. He moved directly into the hits, starting like a pro.

As he dropped the thunderous Kings of Kings, screams reached a crescendo with rags waving from the massive crowd. Mixing into Jimmy Cliff’s Many Rivers to Cross and Rebel in Me, Hard Working People was the perfect start for the year-and-a-half sound.

Of course, with so many women in the crowd, Hosanna seized the advantage and unleashed a barage of mama songs. I Remember Mama, Mama Don’t Cry and Mama You Alone, to their delight. He then changed the tempo and went old school with Lift it up Again, Vineyard Style and a special dub from Merciless attacking Black Blunt’s hairstyle. He topped it off with another entertaining dub titled Lock Up Yu Sound Officer to easily take the first round.

The tune-for-tune segment saw Black Blunt creeping up on Widow giving them a real scare. Blunt could have easily won, however, the judges thought otherwise and Black Widow was declared winner of the set.

The energetic Black Blunt selectors, entertained with songs such as Wandering Sheep, Old Vampire, You Dun Dead Already and Murderer, among others. With a new touter on for Black Widow, Bobby Fresh, he replied with When Trouble Tek You, Go Home Sound Boy, and Eediat Sound. They ignited the crowd with God Pickiney, False Alarm and closed with a Vegas favourite, I Am Blessed.

Black Blunt bounced back again and this time won the dub-for-dub segment but it was in vain as Black Widow had won the best of two rounds from three.

For Black Blunt, the loss was painful, “A we win, dem a play gospel and other songs which no belong in dancehall clash. Mi no clash wid Christian, a dancehall mi seh,” said a disappointed Blunt, who claims Black Blunt to be the biggest sound in Western Jamaica.

Bobby Fresh of Black Widow, however, thought it was a great win for his sound.

“I just want to big up Guinness for this effort where we can showcase our talent, they are doing a good thing,” he said of the promoters.

“This is our first big clash and we are now full of confidence and self-esteem,” Bobby Fresh remarked.

The next road show will be held at Folly Oval in Portland on Saturday, November 28 and will feature Sound Trooper, Jamrock, Flava Unit, and Bass Odyssey.