“Jerusalema” by Master KG (ft. Nomcebo)

Leave it up to African musicians to actually create a gospel song which proves to be a global hit. Such was the case with 2019’s “Jerusalem” (aka “Jerusalema”, as the city is termed in Zulu), which became a viral sensation in 2020.

Admittedly, being that the song is in fact in Zulu, most people outside of the South African region perhaps don’t know what’s really going down anyway. However, it is pretty obvious, considering the title and lyrics and all, that the piece is in fact about Jerusalem, arguably the most historically-known city in the world. 

And we would also venture to say that anyone familiar with the aforementioned city knows that it is so due to having profound significance to a number of the most adhered-to religions. Or put differently, even if a foreign listener doesn’t know that this is a gospel, they would be able to logically deduce that it is religious in nature.

Jerusalem is my Home

So with that established, what the vocalist is actually doing is touting Jerusalem as her “home”. What it seems she is actually referring to is more along the lines of New Jerusalem, not the earthly location as we know it as being situated in the State of Israel. That is to say that the term “Jerusalem”, depending on how it is interpreted, can be a literal or a symbolic location. 

Symbolically, it more or less represents the Kingdom of Heaven, as presented in the Bible. And all things considered, it would appear that the vocalist is verily using the term in its symbolic sense. Moreover she seems to be asking God or some Higher Power to “guide” her there.

So going back to the fact of this song being a gospel, the idea it is putting forth is actually quite a simple one. For what it centers on is the singer asking for divine guidance in getting to Heaven.

Facts about “Jerusalema”

The headline artist of this song, Master KG, is a DJ from South Africa. He has been professionally active since around 2018. And this particular song was originally put out by a label called Open Mic Productions on the date of 11 October 2019.

This tune, which was actually written by its co-star, Nomcebo Zikode, is also popularly known as “Jerusalema”. And after it had proven viral, it was also picked up by European labels Warner France and Elektra France.

Meanwhile the producer of the song is the aforementioned Master KG. So in other words, KG came up with the music, and Nomcebo wrote the lyrics.

Nomcebo Zikode is a decade older than Master KG and as such has been in the game quite longer, since 2005. And like KG, “Jerusalem” also proved to be her breakthrough hit. In fact up until that point, she had spent her career primarily as a backup singer. And Nomcebo was in fact “about to lose hope” in blowing up altogether. This was until she heard the beat that KG produced which served as the basis to the track.

#Jerusalemachallenge

This song virality was buttressed by an event known as the #Jerusalemachallenge, in which groups of people would perform the dance associated with the song in unison. Said challenge was in fact a global phenomenon during 2020. Actually it was so huge that the President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, actually encouraged his countrymen to perform it on a national holiday known as Heritage Day.

In fact this song and its dance went so viral that one of the aforementioned labels, Warner Music, tried to charge people for using it.

More Interesting Facts!!!

In mid-2020 “Jerusalema” was remixed to feature an internationally-popular Nigerian vocalist who goes by the name of Burna Boy. Doing so proved to make the song an even bigger hit. And at the end of the day it ended up charting in over 20 nations, achieving nearly 10 number ones in the process. That includes topping Billboard’s World Digital Songs Sales list. Below are some of the regions where “Jerusalema” was a Top 10 hit:

• Austria
• Belgium (#1)
• Canada
• France
• Germany
• Hungary
• Ireland
• Italy
• Netherlands
• Nicaragua
• Romania (#1)
• Slovakia
• South Africa (#1)
• Spain
• Sweden

Also, the track has gone multi-platinum in Spain, Italy and Switzerland. Moreover as of the writing of this post in May 2021 its music video, as uploaded by Open Mic Productions onto YouTube, has earned nearly 400,000,000 views. All of the above are especially notable accomplishments for a South African musician. In fact as of 2021, Master KG is considered to be the top music artist in the Rainbow Nation, all just from one hit.

There is also an official remix of “Jerusalem”. The said remix features a couple of South American vocalists, Micro TDH of Venezuela and Greeicy from Colombia.

And one last note concerning this track’s success is that for a time it held the distinction of being “the most ‘Shazamed’ song in the world”. It held this record for a while before ultimately being bested by another global hit, “Dynamite” (2020) by BTS. 

And in terms of stars who embraced it, “Jerusalem” has been endorsed by the likes of Janet Jackson and Cristiano Ronaldo. It should be noted that the latter is concurrently the most-popular athlete in the world.

What genre of music is “Jerusalema”?

It is widely regarded as a Gospel house song. However, it can also be categorized in the dance and disco genres.

More about The “Jerusalema Dance Challenge“

Many countries have a cultural history of a type of music or dance that they invented and with which they can associate. In recent times, the internet and social media have made it easier for people to share their culture and creativity with millions of people around the world.

Dance and music are the most shared culture between different people and countries on social media. Many dance videos have been posted by internet users and on social media to show their love for a popular dance or to compete for the best video challenge for this popular dance.

The Jerusalema Dance Challenge is one of the dance challenges that has gone very viral on the internet and social media.

Who invented the Challenge?

Young Angolan dance group Fenómenos do Semba invented the famous Jerusalema dance challenge in February 2020. Master KG has acknowledged the group’s role in taking his song to the highest level of its popularity on his social media page and he follows all their social media accounts.

Their video, which showed their dance steps choreographed to the hit song, was a video set in a backyard of a house in Luanda. The group recorded themselves dancing to the song as they ate food from their plates in their hands without dropping them accompanied by their rhythmic and yet simple foot-tapping steps.

Group leader Adilson Maiza, when asked about the main reason for the dance challenge video and explaining the reason for holding the plates, he said that the group wanted to convey a message to humanity during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The message was that we should be happy even with the little that life offers us, despite the challenges we face every day and that the most important thing in life is to be healthy and happy.

In their social media post, the group described the video as a reference to the ‘alegria da danca’, which means’ joy of dance’. Alegria da danca can also be translated as joy pressed out from trauma through dancing. People during the pandemic were hungering for possibilities to connect to each other. This dance challenge on the internet, therefore, provided an uplifting moment for people during the pandemic. It enacted a basic way to connect and associate with different people across the globe through dancing.

The dance went viral for this reason and became virtually an irresistible challenge on social media when the Angolan dance group posted their video with the hashtag Jerusalema dance challenge (#Jerusalema dance challenge).

South Africa

In South Africa, the dance challenge received official approval when President Cyril Ramaphosa encouraged his fellow citizens to live up to the spirit of the Jerusalema challenge when speaking to the nation ahead of Heritage Day.

Health minister of South Africa, Dr. Zweli Mkhize released a video of himself and his team participating in the challenge on his social media after the president’s speech. This influenced many health care workers in the country to participate in the dance challenge, posting videos on social media of themselves in uniform dancing at their various hospitals. This was during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic when South Africa had imposed strict lockdown laws to prevent the spread of the virus.

Soon, the dance challenge became a cruise for everyone in South Africa, police officers, catholic priests, and individuals in their various homes posted videos of themselves to participate in the dance challenge. They did the dance also holding plates of food and copying the dance moves of the Angolan group.

A Global Phenomenon

In addition to the popularity of the dance challenge in South Africa, it became a viral dance phenomenon that attracted a diverse global audience. Famous footballer Cristiano Ronaldo and American Singer Janet Jackson have shared their love for the song and the dance challenge on social media to their fans. Other renowned politicians, athletes, priests, food vendors, health workers and countless citizens of many other countries have posted numerous videos of themselves participating in group dances and accepting the challenge of the Jerusalema dance.

 Many choreographers have created tutorial videos of the Angolan group’s routine on social media and YouTube helping people to learn how to perform the dance simply. Although both Master KG and Fenómenos do Semba have commented on many videos of people performing the Jerusalema dance, they are yet to state who the winner is. However, there have been many self-acclaimed winners of the challenge on social media.

How do you dance Jerusalema? 

Anybody could participate in the Jerusalem Challenge as follows:

• Preferably, find someone or some people to perform the dance with you.
• Get yourselves plates of food to hold while you perform the dance moves.
• Record yourselves performing the Angolan group’s routine dance rhythmically with the song.
• The dance routine is repetitive enough and can be learned easily.
• Although the Jerusalema Challenge is as straightforward as recording yourself performing the Angolan group’s routine, you should not hesitate to be innovative with it, as long as your ideas are in line with your country’s Covid-19 protocols. This creativity is what can make your video famous on the internet and social media.
• Finally upload your video to the internet and on social media apps like Instagram and Tiktok using the tag, #JerusalemaChallenge. You can also tag your loved ones on the application and challenge them to also post their videos and join the cruise.