TWO of the world's most famous DJs will be battling it out in Bermuda this weekend to raise money for charity.

Britain's David Rodigan will be clashing (when two DJs battle each other on stage to see who the crowd favourite is) Rory from Jamaica's Stone Love sound system at Number One Gate in St. George's to raise funds for Bermudian youngsters participating in this year's United Nations International School Conference topic, renewable energy.

Actor-turned-DJ Mr. Rodigan, who has visited Bermuda for previous sound system clashes, said: "Global Arts Entertainment contacted me and said they work with the youth of Bermuda for peace and rights and wanted me to become involved with an event that would encourage peace and respect on the island.

"I was all for it because I'm not into the disrespect thing or animosity that is current in the dancehall scene. To me that has nothing to do with the pride and joy that this music should and does bring. U-Roy the Teacher told me years ago 'What we don't like we don't talk about in public because we give it promotion' I listened because I have great respect for him and events like this are meant to be talked about and promoted because it's for a great cause."

Mr. Rodigan, 57, was introduced to reggae at an early age and said he was immediately smitten by the Caribbean music.

"I was introduced to reggae through a song called My Boy Lollipop by Millie" he says.

"Millie appeared on a UK TV show called Ready Steady Go. From there I discovered Skatalites, Prince Buster and Al Capone. Another key record that put me on to the scene was 007 by Desmond Decker. I was 16 at the time when that came out. When you are in your teenage years music is very important to you. It's defining."

Mr. Rodigan wasn't always a world famous DJ. In fact it almost came to be that he didn't DJ at all. In his days before DJ'ing he was an actor with a touring theatre company and it was thanks to his girlfriend at the time that he started down the path to DJ history.

Mr. Rodigan said: "I started DJ'ing professionally in 1978. Before that I worked in the theatre for a number of years. I did some television work and some TV commercials and I was qualified to be a teacher and was offered a job to teach drama at a boys school in 1974.

"I almost signed the contract because I enjoyed it there and I enjoyed teaching.

"The same week I was offered a job as assistant stage manager at a provincial theatre. I took that and did that for three years. We were a touring theatre company.

"My girlfriend at the time in 1978 knew I collected reggae music. There was a chap on BBC Radio London who was leaving and they announced on air they were looking for a new presenter. Unbeknownst to me my girlfriend wrote a letter and sent off for an audition. A letter came back telling me when the audition was. I said 'I can't do this' and she said 'you can do it you can do it, you have the records all you have to do is go down and do it.'

"I went down and they stopped the interview after 15 minutes and said 'there is only one problem¿ you're the wrong colour. We are looking for a black presenter.' What they ended up doing was playing the audition tape to lots of black people in the industry and they presumed from listening to it and not seeing me that I was black. So the general consensus was 'you should give it to Rodigan because he knows what he is talking about.' They then decided the politically correct way to do it was to have a black and white presenter so we co hosted the show together for a year and a half.

After a year and a half at Radio London I was asked to come on to capitol radio and I was there for 11 years from 1979 until 1990. In 1990 KISS asked me to join their station and I did and I've now been there for 18 years. They said 'come over and do daytime radio full time.' Till that time from 1979 to 1990 I had only done one show a week because I was still continuing as an actor and I had to be free to be available to work and audition. When my wife was pregnant with our second son my agent said 'it's decision time. You're either going to be full time radio DJ or full time actor it's to difficult for availability and you need to choose.' So I took the full time radio and did ten years of daytime radio. After 10 years of daytime radio I gave it up and went back to doing one show a week at KISS and one show a week for British Forces Radio. I have been doing a weekly urban show for British Forces Radio since 1984."

Mr. Rodigan helped make modern day dancehall soundclash what it is by doing an event that had never been attempted before in radio history in having the world's first transatlantic soundclash over the radio between Jamaica and London.

Mr. Rodigan remembers "It was an amazing experience. We didn't know the significance of it at the time. I went to Jamaica in 1983 to record a radio show for Capitol. While there I was introduced to Barry Gordon who was the number one radio DJ in Jamaica at the time. He invited me to appear on his show.

"During the news he turned to me and said we are going to change this. Instead of you just giving a little report from England, let's do a clash. It was a radio revelation because it had never happened before. Two dj's clashing trying to outdo each other. It was great fun. That led to a number of international bookings for us of which the most significant was in December of 1985 at the Brooklyn Empire in New York and I will never forget that night as long as I live. The snow was falling, it was freezing and we arrived at the Brooklyn Empire and it was like a rock concert! People were lined up around the block in the snow. We had to have security to get us in there. When we got in there were thousands of people and the place was filled to capacity. It was a night I'll never forget. It wasn't about dubplates it was about the music."

Mr. Rodigan says Reggae and Soundclash has changed a lot in the last 20 years. He says "It used to be about respect and honour but in recent years it deteriorated to what I call gutter sniping. That is disrespect, arms house, stinking attitude that selectors have toward each other and appalling personal remarks and derogatory comments, giving speeches that refer to obscure banal puerile situations and scenarios and uncalled for demoralizing, demeaning disgusting language that made me so sick of it at one point that I stopped clashing for three years.

"After a three year absence I remembered an old saying that ships are safe in the harbour, but that's not what ships were made for and I realized these dubplates are lying in the basement with dust all over them and you can't change anything from the outside and you have to be there on the inside to instigate change by example. There's an old Jamaican saying: Know Better Do Better. I said to myself I'm my own worst enemy because here I am criticizing but I'm not doing anything about it. I may be 57 which is a long side of 30 but who cares? Age is just number. So I went back in the arena.

"I believe you have to stand by the right and honourable thing to do. When honour is required I believe that honour is what a man should stand by. I believe that to be important with everything you do, not just music."

Mr. Rodigan has met with most reggae superstars and reminisces about meeting Bob Marley and his experience at meeting the legend on a number of occasions. He says "It was 1974 and I went to see him in a pub called the Greyhound Pub while I was in Jamaica. He didn't see me, but I heard him playing drums with Bunny (Wailer) and Peter (Tosh). The place was so packed I couldn't get to meet him. I walked around the back and when I got there Bob was outside taking a smoke break and I got to introduce myself to him.

"The next time I met him was in 1981 when he was returning from Zimbabwe and I met him at Island Records on the staircase. I introduced myself and asked if he would appear on my radio show. It was such an innocent honest request that he looked me in the eye and after getting a nod from a producer he said 'Yeah I'll be there.' He then asked me if I would listen to something with him and I was stunned with excitement as he took me up to the listening room at island records, sat down, took out a cassette from his jean jacket and pushed it in and pressed play. The new song he played was Could You Be Loved. After he played it he turned to me and said 'What do you think of the mix Rodigan? Is it an FM or AM mix?' I'm in a room alone with Bob Marley and he's asking me what I thought of the mix? I was astonished but was able to answer 'It sounds pretty good for FM.' He said to me 'OK; you'll have it as a world exclusive for your radio show.' The next day we did an hour special on the radio show and at the end we played the world exclusive Could You Be Loved.

"I also want to clear up the myth that I have a Bob Marley dubplate. That is not true. I do not have a Bob Marley dubplate."

Mr. Rodigan goes on to say how much he loves Bermuda and the abundant beauty that is prominent here, but he also tells of a negative experience when he first arrived at the airport this time.

Mr. Rodigan explains "I love Bermuda. I fell in love with it when I first came here in 1995. It just reminded me of being a boy in the country side in England with trees and rivers and beauty everywhere you look. When I first came here I was just smitten with it. There's something about the discipline of the island. The respect the people have for each other. To me it's so different than many of the places I go to.

"I've only had one bad experience here and that was this miserable cantankerous old taxi driver who drove us from the airport to the hotel this time.

"You need to get that sorted. I tell you that's the worst thing that can happen is you get off the airplane and you have this miserable grumpy old bloke who throws your bags in the back of the cab and then complains he has to move his lunch box to make room for you and your family. I asked him what his problem was and why he was throwing our bags around and he said it's all in my mind. I said 'aren't you a Bermudian?' He said 'yes I am' so I asked him 'do you not like people coming to your island' and he just gawked at me so I continued by saying 'there is nothing in the last 20 minutes that has made me feel even remotely welcome here. From your miserable attitude when you threw my bags in your cab to you ignoring my son when he tried to engage you in conversation about the weather and here you are expecting a tip and you aren't getting one cause your attitude stinks.' He then went on to say it was all my problem. I said to him 'if you have a problem with your customers when they arrive at the airport then don't be at the airport. Go somewhere else.'

"Bermuda needs to wake up. Those guys are giving you a really stinky image. I tell you, if I were just landing here for the first time that would really put me off. I said to him 'I happen to be fortunate enough to have visited Bermuda before but you are an exception to the rule because a vast majority of the Bermudians I've met are incredibly friendly and courteous. You put Bermuda to shame with how you act.' He kept interrupting and trying to talk over me when he wouldn't even open his mouth while driving us to the hotel from the airport.

"Other than that experience I always love it here. People are so courteous and friendly and there is hardly any rubbish on the roads and everything is so beautifully dressed and people take personal pride here in making sure their side of the street is clean. That really impresses me that people take great pride in the way things look.

"The first night I clashed Souljah 1 at the Horseshoe Beach clash in 1995 I was playing Natural Mystic and I looked up over the bay and the full moon was up and people were off the beach in their boats and it was beautiful. I tell you I'll never forget it. People often ask me what my fondest memory of dancehall is and I often describe that first night at Horseshoe Beach when I played here for the first time and I was playing Natural Mystic and the full moon was coming up."

People wishing to listen to Mr. Rodigan's weekly radio show online may go to www.bfbs.com and tune in to the weekly urban show that he does.