{"id":170539,"date":"2020-10-30T03:34:41","date_gmt":"2020-10-30T01:34:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/the-angolan-dancers-who-helped-south-african-anthem-jerusalema-go-global\/"},"modified":"2020-10-30T03:34:41","modified_gmt":"2020-10-30T01:34:41","slug":"the-angolan-dancers-who-helped-south-african-anthem-jerusalema-go-global","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/the-angolan-dancers-who-helped-south-african-anthem-jerusalema-go-global\/","title":{"rendered":"The Angolan dancers who helped South African anthem Jerusalema go global"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

In February the Angolan dance troupe Phenomenos do Semba created the viral<\/a> #JerusalemaDanceChallenge video<\/a> that showed off their dance moves to the South African hit<\/a> song Jerusalema<\/em><\/a>. Their video is set in a backyard in Luanda, where they break into a group dance, all the while eating lunch from plates in their hands. <\/p>\n

In the age of coronavirus, the #JerusalemaDanceChallenge video generated<\/a> a counter-contagion. Almost overnight everyone from police departments in Africa to priests in Europe were posting their own Jerusalema<\/em> dance videos that repeated the choreography. <\/p>\n

The challenge videos were swept along in a message of hope<\/a> condensed in the single word \u201cJerusalema\u201d and amplified through an electronic beat that its creator, Johannesburg-based musician and producer Master KG<\/a>, describes as \u201cspiritual<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n

Putting together this beat in November 2019, he invited South African gospel vocalist Nomcebo Zikode<\/a> to interpret it lyrically. The magic isiZulu phrase \u201cJerusalema, ikhaya lami\u201d (Jerusalem is my home) arose through their jamming. Then the Angolans provided an irresistible choreography, and the rest is history. <\/p>\n

The Angolan dance routine is both just repetitive enough to be picked up and just varied enough to tease. Videos flew around the world on TikTok<\/a>, Instagram<\/a> and Facebook<\/a>. Like the urge to dance to \u201cthe earliest Ragtime songs\u201d described by Ishmael Reed in his novel Mumbo Jumbo<\/a><\/em>, the dance challenge, too, \u201cjes grew\u201d. <\/p>\n