This is the story of two Davids ? in one corner, the internationally renowned, Reggae luminary David Rodigan (a man who has been coming to Bermuda to clash local and international sounds alike for years and has never lost a battle within these shores), and in the other corner, the local legend, and Souljah One front man David ?Magic? Cunningham.

Saturday night, these two gladiators faced off in a war of attrition and musical stamina that will go down in infamy as the time David Rodigan was robbed by some decidedly shady judgement calls.

The evening started with some mellow juggling by the impressive OGS Genesis sound system, followed by a sizzling set by the deceptively adroit Vybez Alliance. Then, after a very classy minute of silence for the recently murdered Jason Lightbourne, the always entertaining Ninja Cutty got the controversial clash started.

In the beginning, there were three. New York?s Blunt Posse was in the house to represent the USA, Rodigan represented the UK, and, of course, Magic represented Bermuda. The format was simple: three rounds, with each sound alternating 15 minute sets in the first two rounds, and 10 minute sets in the third round. After the third round (a total of 40 minutes from each contender), one of the three groups would be eliminated, and the remaining two would face off in a one-for-one dub plate battle!

The Blunt Posse did their devious best to derail the speeding steam engines they shared the stage with, but the crash of Rodigan and Souljah One was what the 1,000 or so Dancehall fiends in attendance had come to witness, so the deck was stacked against the New York outfit from the start.

The kids from foreign did acquit themselves well though; serving a heaping helping of Sizzla, a dash of Buju, a good portion of Gyptian, and an impressive Israel Vibration piece during their allotted stage time. They were impressive at times, but the crowd was just not on their side. Rodigan was infectious; Magic was the sentimental favourite; the New Yorkers were nothing more than a sideshow (and a pretty good one at that!).

David Rodigan opened his account with an old favourite: Ini Kamoze mixed into Damien Marley with devastating effect. The veteran sound man hoped, skipped, jumped, and gyrated across the stage like a Muppet on acid, spreading his infectious energy far and wide, and putting on a thoroughly absorbing show. His impressive catalogue of Dub Plates included pieces by Prince Buster, Horace Andy, Bitty McLean, Garnett Silk, the legendary Tenor Saw, and a virtual armoury of Bounty Killer specials.

In addition to the near invincible catalogue, Rodigan had the cool eloquence of a man who has been killing sound bwoys for the better part of four decades. There is no debating the fact that David Rodigan would be a major character in any story about Reggae music in the UK, and with an international reputation like his, the term ?legend? is more than applicable to this walking Reggae encyclopaedia.

If one were to look for a Bermudian parallel to Rodigan, they wouldn?t have to look much further than David Cunningham. The leader of the imperious Souljah One sound system was also very much on song on Saturday night.

Magic gained a lot of local favour by employing an arresting arsenal of locally engineered Dub Plates. He dropped fantastic specials from the likes of Daddy Flookie, Corvan Melody, and the internationally acclaimed Collie Buddz, which made for some of the most spectacular moments Horseshoe Bay saw on Saturday night.

In fact, once the New Yorkers were eliminated, and it was clear that Rodigan was dominating the head-to-head, Magic dropped a new Collie Buddz Dub Plate that sent the crowd into an absolute, unadulterated frenzy! He pulled the tune up something like seven times and revelled in the glory of playing the unanimously named ?biggest tune? of the night for all of ten full minutes ? it was heaven.

There was controversy though ? due mainly to the mismanagement of the one-for-one portion of the clash.

For some reason, young Mr. Vybez Alliance polled the crowd after each round of the ten-round bout, awarding a round to the sound the crowd made the most noise for. I knew this would be trouble when, after the first round, the crowd made about the same amount of noise for Rodigan?s brilliant Garnett Silk special and Magic?s decidedly weaker Admiral Tibet piece, and Vybez Alliance awarded a point to the local sound.

The second major mishap happened in the fourth round, when a close call was given to Souljah One again. But the real injustice came when, after the ninth round, with the score at Rodigan 5 and Magic 3, the young man decided to announce that if Rodigan wins the round, the clash would be over, effectively giving Magic the ?we don?t want this to end yet? vote.

The crowd, however, still didn?t choose Magic?s obscure Junior Reid piece over Rodigan?s devastating Cocoa Tea special, but the vote was close enough for the ?judges? to give the round to Magic. To their credit, the crowd did shower that embarrassingly bad judgement with a chorus of ?boos? ? for most serious Dancehall lovers, the clash was won after round nine, with Rodigan taking an insurmountable six-of-ten rounds.

The competition raged on, however, and Magic was able to bury an excellent Tenor Saw Dub Plate with the above mentioned ?biggest tune? of the night in the tenth round.

The judges called the clash even after ten rounds though, and, even though Magic conceded defeat, Rodigan saluted the crowd for supporting the home side, and refused to take a victory through concession.

After three tension filled ?extra-time? rounds, both parties agreed to call it a draw, and we were all allowed to leave this somewhat anti-climactic, fully engrossing sound clash sometime around 3.30 a.m. with a feeling of tainted pride that the local sound was not beaten, but the defending champion still holds the crown quite firmly in his hands.

Controversy and local biases aside, this was a very nice evening out.

The crowd was quite well-behaved, and all of the trouble many folks expected never materialised. I don?t even remember any considerable Police presence. The security was tight, and the staging and sound were impressive. All-in-all, this was a job very well done by Global Arts Entertainment and Spanish Town. Good show fellas.