Mel Cooke, Freelance Writer

DJ Fines' acrobatic mixing earned him the title of the Heineken Green Synergy champion two years in a row. The finals of the competition was held at the Chinese Benevolent Association Headquarters on Saturday night. Fines took home US$10,000 and other prizes. - Colin Hamilton

At times the regional finals of the Heineken Green Synergy DJ competition seemed as much an acrobatic, dexterity and dramatic contest as much as a battle of musical selections, with many of the 13 competing disc jocks using their feet, backs and lips to work the twin CD players on stage at the Chinese Benevolent Association Headquarters on Saturday night.

And there were even a couple puppets and Heineken in various forms taking a spin, with a couple DJs taking a dramatic gulp or two.

At the end of the night the judges' decision indicated that the turntable twisters and turners, as opposed to those who offered their tunes straight to an audience had taken the more rewarding route.

$US10,000 first prize

DJ Fines from the Bahamas tallied 383 points for the US$10,000 first prize, along with the champion's trophy and a cellular phone, again beating Mix Master Pauly of St. Maarten, the 2005 champion, into second place.

Mix Master Pauly took home US$2,000 and a cellphone, with the third place DJ from Guadeloupe also winning a cellphone and US$1,000.

Jamaica's entrant DJ David, although getting very good support from the audience, did not place.

A happy contingent of young men in the audience sprayed Heineken in the air as part of their ecstatic celebrations of DJ Fines' win and he also had utilised the beer, which was free all night at the Green Synergy Regional Finals, during a frenetic paced 10-minute presentation.

Snippets of Cutty Ranks' battle cries got the audience cheering as DJ Fines opened, but when he did a slow, Matrix style roll with his back against the CD player doing mixing duties the venue erupted. He kept "flipping rhymes" with Munga Honourable, then went down behind the CD players, only his hands showing as they did rapid work. The Heineken came in as Fines stood on a chair and used one foot to control the music, appropriately playing "don't spill my drink", as he poured beer from one can to another.

Mix Master Pauly was also in a battle mood, dropping in a dub plate of Jr. Gong inviting "welcome to sound clash", his phenomenal hand speed showing early. He got to the audience with 'Cherry Oh Baby', before he put five cans of Heineken on one CD player and used an oversized jug of the same brand to mix on the other.

There were huge cheers.

There were technical problems at the start of a few competitors' sets, DJ Chris of Martinique saying 'sorry' after his heavily accented opening request to "after I say 'Jama' you say 'Ica' was followed by silence from malfunctioning turntables. And DJ Slick from Grenada asked "Jamaica are you ready, my ladies are you ready, judges are you ready?" twice, with no sound from the CD players for his opening song on both occasions. "There is no reason for me to do it again, right?" he asked the third time around. The audience agreed. There was also dead air for St. Lucia's DJ Buzz.

For the audience, the worst was saved for last as there were handclaps during a near torturous set from St. Lucia's DJ Buzz, who was second to last of the 13 competitors, and quite a few boos after the final entrant, Trinidad and Tobago's Selector D, who announced his patriotism by keeping the word 'Trinidad' repeated for an extended period.

Different approach

Bermuda's DJ Flava, who sounded very Jamaican, was the only DJ on Saturday night to play directly to the crowd with no attempt at turntable tricks, getting a thunderous response as he went at it in straight dancehall fashion, using the microphone heavily and doing very little mixing as he allowed the songs to run. He started out with Shabba's instruction to "oil up all a de gun dem", followed with Bounty Killer's Lodge and told the judges that they would like it before he dropped Busy Signal's observation of the Days.

There were selections from DJ Nicco, Jamaica's 2006 Heineken Green Synergy champion, and Renaissance, as well as performances from rapper Mims and Baby Cham and Junior Reid, the last two getting thunderous applause as did Bugle with his single song as a guest of Reid, before all three teamed up for the closing live performance song.

With some still having Heineken at hand, although only water was handed out to those exiting at the end, in the muddy car park one man used the foaming beer to wash his hands.

Hosts for the night included Deidra and Jabba from Tempo.