Bookings overfull for No Limit International

Neville 'Val T' Thompson, member of the Sound System Association of Jamaica, and sound manager of the Clarendon-based No Limit International sound system, said his team is gearing up to turn up amplifiers with the reopening of the entertainment industry.

He told THE WEEKEND STAR that bookings for the Guinness Sounds of Greatness winning sound system had been streaming in since Prime Minister Andrew Holness announced a conditional reopening of the entertainment industry in Parliament on June 23.

"Bookings? Right now the book overfull. The bookings are there," he said. Thompson added that several of the reserved dates are rescheduled dates from events that were cancelled last year. "We cancelled a lot of bookings and majority of the people know who we are, so some of the funds they just said to keep it until the sector is opened, so that booking we have now.''

With some 20 people employed to the No Limit International team, Thompson said that they had to tap into creative ways, such as construction and farming to withstand the impact of the economic fallout due to the pandemic. "We rotate ... we find things for people to do. The sound is not playing so if we have any construction to do, everybody join in and when it comes Friday everybody get their envelope. We try to make everybody comfortable," he said.

The sound manager said there is a great demand for his kind of service in the parish. "There is a lot of round robins and that's where majority of the lower class people get their earning, and with the lockdown, it was bad." He said he hopes relevant protocols will be maintained to ensure a permanent reopening of the industry.

Ricardo 'DJ Town Boy' Roberts, one of No Limit's disc jockeys, said the reopening of the estimated $84-billion sector was long overdue.

Give thanks and praise

"A long time we a wait pan this fe happen back again man. We a wait long enough and we give thanks and praise fe know say we a go start touch back the road and do wah we do best ... music straight," he said.

Thompson's brother and team member, Robert Thompson, sees the reopening of the sector as an opportunity to make a bigger cultural impact.

"We really appreciate the prime minister for giving us the opportunity to showcase what we have here in Jamaica," he said. Robert said the team plans to use the opportunity to restage some of the parish's biggest events which were cancelled last year.

He theorised that the reopening of the sector could curb crime. "Gun taking more life out of people than COVID. We respect the prime minister for giving us back the time where the youths weh a buss the guns can put down the gun and come party again. If they are not doing something, they are going to find idle things to do," he said. Robert hopes the No Limit International Headquarters in Gimme-Me-Bit will be one of the official venues approved to host events, as the space can accommodate up to 500 patrons, while observing the social distancing protocols.

Rowhan Blake, CEO at the Clarendon Municipal Corporation, told THE WEEKEND STAR that the body had received applications for events since Monday, and will be closely monitoring the process to ensure a smooth flow of operations.

"We will also have persons going around to these events to ensure that they are compliant to those protocols," Blake said.