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Guinness spins off “Sounds of Greatness” competition
…creates opportunities for young DJs
By Shervin Belgrave
Kaieteur News – Beverage giant Guinness on Wednesday launched its “Guinness Sounds of Greatness”, a competition designed to propel upcoming Disc Jockeys (DJ) into the spotlight.
The launch was held at the Grill and Jerk Guinness Bar at Cummings Street and South Road, Georgetown and members of the media in attendance walked away with a number of Guinness prizes.
Guinness DJs at the launch
DJ Bigz speaking with reporters
Guinness Brand Manager, Lee Baptiste
The “Guinness Sounds of Greatness” competition first commenced in Jamaica and has been ongoing for 15 years around the Caribbean. However, this is the first time that event is being hosted in Guyana.
Kaieteur News’ reporter, Shervin Belgrave, captured the main prize of a Guinness Boom Box and a Guinness kit which included a “Hi-Fi” headphone, a Guinness-branded cap and T-shirt. Other media personnel walked away with Guinness kits.
Guinness’ brand manager, Lee Baptiste at the launch on Wednesday said, “Guinness Sounds of Greatness’ is here to propel the next generation of DJs from within the communities.”
Guinness will be heading into the various communities and administrative regions across the country, granting emerging DJs opportunities to showcase their talent and skills and the chance to win up to $1.5M in cash and prizes.
Other media personnel with their prizes
Participating DJs, according to Baptiste, will each receive a stipend to assist with their preparation for the event.
Baptiste said that competition will last some nine weeks with a total of 19 sub-meets to be held at Guinness bars and events countrywide. The first sub-meet will kick-off on Saturday, October 28, 2023 in New Amsterdam, Berbice, Region Six at the “town week” celebrations there.
Guinness will select the best DJs from each sub-meet and bring them together during the second week of December at a venue still to be determined for a final show down. The top four finalists will share the prizes. The Champion of the nine-week-long event will also walk away with title of being a Guinness-sponsored DJ.
Kaieteur News reporter, Shervin Belgrave, receiving his grand prize of a “Guinness Boom Box” at the ‘Guinness Sounds of Greatness’ launch.
Patrons attending the sub-meets will not be left empty-handed as they will be granted opportunities to win prizes at each event. The special prize for patrons will be a Guinness Boom Box. Persons who purchase two Guinness six packs will be able to win two prizes, Baptiste said.
He noted that “Guinness Sounds of Greatness” is not for experienced Guinness DJs but for the young and upcoming ones and advised the veterans to coach and mentor them for the competition.
Explaining some of the criteria for the competition, one of the Guinness DJs, DJ Bigz (Richard Francios) said, “A large part of what we are doing is to see how they can move the crowd, crowd appeal.”
Bigz said, “We are also looking for a number of genres; we don’t want you come and play dancehall whole night… we want to see how you can come and create your set in such a way that it can move the crowd.” He said other criteria will be clean juggling by the DJs.
“For Guinness DJs, we don’t play dirty music, either on air or at the party and we want to maintain that,” Bigz said.
DJ Bigz has been a Guinness DJ for some 13 years; he has been spinning records for some two decades. To those aspiring to become the next Guinness DJ in Guyana, Bigz advised, “Focus on your craft and learn the skill set.”
He said that the meat and potatoes of “DJing” is knowing the next song to play to get your crowd “going.”
“Scratching and all the other effects are like the seasoning you put on your food,” Bigz said, while adding that, “no one enjoys meal without meat and potatoes.” In the world of entertainment, meats and potatoes, according to Bigz, one must know what song to play next.
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