Cup Match is back. Although Cleveland lost the Eastern Counties Cup, St George’s barely held on to my other cricket trophy! Thank God for that. But what a game it was! The true winners were the fans. More on this after we look at the Top 20.Holding at #1 is Give Me Everything by Pitbull, Neo, AfroJack & Nayer. This is still DJLT’s favourite hit and I think the hottest song on the planet. Tumbling to #2 is Just Can’t Get Enough by the Black Eyed Peas. I still want to see these guys in concert; they are the best entertainers of the moment. Their concerts are unparalleled. Up to #3 is Taio Cruz’s current hit I’m Loving You Tonight. Do check out the naughty remix. Falling to #4 is Judas by Lady Gaga. Improving to #5 it’s Motivation by Kelly Rowland featuring L’il Wayne. This track is quietly sneaking up charts all over the world.Slipping to #6 is Beautiful People by Chris Brown featuring Benny Benassi. Chris Brown is back, in a big way. Sliding to #7 is 6 Foot 7 Foot by L’il Wayne featuring Cory Gunz.On the way up at #8 is Run the World (Girls) by Beyonce. Down at #9 is Till The World Ends by Brittney Spears. Tumbling to #10 is Look At Me Now by Chris Brown featuring L’il Wayne and Busta Rhymes. I’m giving Chris Brown his props. A couple of years after his terrible incident with Rihanna he has bounced back in a big way, seems to be focused on his work and is dropping hits like an air force bomber pilot drops his bombs regularly. This is why he is the featured artist in our picture this week.Walking by Mary Mary stumbles to #11 but is still in the thick of things. Tumbling to #12 is Born This Way by Lady Gaga. Tripping to #13 is Rihanna’s current hit, S&M.And now an anthem, which is also a former essential new track. Party Rock Anthem by LMFAO featuring Lauren Bennett & GoonRock advances to #14. Falling to #15 is ET by Katy Perry featuring Kanye West. Up to #16 is Last Friday (TGIF) by Katy Perry, a new one that is doing well on the charts. Katy Perry is on her game these days she too is dropping hits.Up to #17 is last week’s essential new tune, Rolling In The Deep by Adelle. Up to #18 I’m Into You by Jennifer Lopez featuring L’il Wayne. Sorry to hear about the marital problems that she and Marc Anthony are experiencing, but it has to be tough to be married in Hollywood.And now, this week’s essential new tune. In at #19 is a hyped, Latin/Soca anthem, entitled Danza Kuduro, by Don Omar, the Cuban American star Pit Bull, Lucenzo, DJ Laz and Qwote. I don’t know why DJs in Bermuda are not playing this hit, but it bangs overseas. It is an extremely catchy, singalong hit which comes with a dance. And here’s a bit of trivia, courtesy of google, and DJLT. Danza Kuduro is an African dance generally associated with former French, Portuguese, Spanish and African colonies such as Angola, where the dance originated, Senegal, Equatorial Africa and Mozambique.The word Kuduru is a corruption of the words Culo and Duro, which mean ‘hard’. In the context of the song and the dance, the concept is that the behind has to be tensed in this type of dance.New at #20 is the new one from my boy Chris Brown, entitled She Ain’t You. This one uses the beat from SWV’s 1992 hit ‘Right Here’, which itself was a remix of the King of Pop, Michael Jackson’s hit ‘Human Nature’. This track is sweet and underlines the fact that Chris Brown is back! His CD is going places; he’s already won BET awards and there are more to follow.Now back to this week’s topic Cup Match our coolest holiday event/cultural extravaganza. For many years now we have been having our annual Cup Match Classic. Yes it’s a cricket match that began in 1902 but it is so much more.Let’s start by recognising that the first day of Cup Match is actually called Emancipation Day, in memory of the day on which slavery was abolished and to honour those who were forced into slavery over hundreds of years, against their will, as well as the legacy they’ve left behind for their descendants.It is useful to note that for the longest while, even 100 years after Emancipation, Cup Match was not recognised as a formal holiday and black Bermudians used to simply not turn up for work for those two days, until eventually, in 1946, the business community and the Bermuda government surrendered. That year the Government finally declared that there would be a formal and national public holiday.Slavery had such a negative impact on slaves and their descendants, some of which is still being played out in the aggressive, antisocial behaviour of so many angry black men; but that’s fodder for another article on another week. Maybe next week who knows who knew? But we digress.The second day of Cup Match is Somers Day, in memory of Sir George Somers who essentially founded Bermuda back in 1609 and colonised these wonderful isles for Great Britain with the first batch of settlers.As you can see, Cup Match alone is steeped in history and tradition. We must share this with each other, with future generations and with our visitors. Cup Match really shows Bermuda at its best. It is hot, the weather is usually great, the beaches are packed, the water is warm, there are thousands of people at the cricket match and Bermuda is alive.This is what you want the young, active, fun, experiential tourists to see, feel and touch. We have to give them an experience unlike anything they will get anywhere else. Cup Match offers that.So, to all those in position to influence visitor entertainment choices send them to St George’s, to see the Old Towne to see all the attractions of our original capital and to experience Cup Match. Industry experts tell us that visitors think Bermuda is dead. They use the expression “Bermuda is for the newlywed and the nearly dead!”Well, that’s partly true but whenever we can, we should send them to events and activities that show off Bermuda when it is alive, such as Cup Match.But this year’s Cup Match holiday was a rocker! The cricket match was enough entertainment for all; we didn’t need a concert. But we should congratulate the players and officials from both Somerset and St George’s for putting on a fantastic cricket game. Admittedly, the quality of batting was mostly appalling save a few individual performances. The bowling was generally better than the batting, as evidenced by the low scores, but the word on the street is that the wicket was ill-prepared! Certainly for Cup Match you want a good wicket that will stand up for two days of wear and tear.But the match went down to the wire, with Lionel Cann being the hero. I think he should have been the MVP, because although Stefan Kelly bowled a dream of a match for two days, St George’s might still have lost the match if Lionel Cann didn’t hit those winning runs. You have to look at the stage of the game. Kelly’s ten wickets are impressive, but even with his ten wickets, if Cann doesn’t make 49, St George’s lose the Cup. Add to this the fact that Tit (Cann’s nickname) made a few runs in the first innings as well. I’m just saying!But all in all, the fans were the real winners because they were treated to the most exciting, thrilling and entertaining Cup Match in recent memory. I was impressed by the emergence of so many young players on both teams. So, Cup Match is back and set for a while, with a new-found lease on life and a host of young players from which to choose, all of whom enjoy entertaining the fans. Long may it continue to be as exciting and entertaining as it was in 2011! Peace.…..DJLT!