From Sao Paulo to Sweden, thousands of people globally, including priests, police, ministers and frontline workers, have posted clips of themselves dancing to South African house song “Jerusalema”.
With confirmed global coronavirus deaths nearing a grim milestone of one million, a vaccine still some time away and lockdowns and social distancing measures to curb the pandemic’s spread weighing on public life, the up-tempo gospel groove has provided a moment’s relief across borders and language barriers.
Yet 150 million YouTube views later, the song’s producer is still not sure why. Master KG said on Thursday he was in “disbelief”.
Here is my best #JerusalemaDanceChallenge pic.twitter.com/0awgVU71bU
— Zama ka Mzilikazi ? (@Zama30162777) September 16, 2020
“Early this year, around January, I thought the song had reached its peak,” said Master KG, real name Kgaogelo Moagi. “And then out of nowhere the song came back.”
The “nowhere” was a group of Angolan friends, who posted themselves performing a self-invented dance routine to the song. In the video, a first group demonstrates the dance to another group, who interrupt their house chores to join-in.
From there the clip made its way to Portugal, the rest of Europe, the United States and South America under the #JerusalemaDanceChallenge tag, inspiring variations such as a group of Italian nuns in tunics and priests in robes, and nurses in full scrubs at a Swedish hospital doing the dance.
Thank you brother @Cristiano ??????❤❤?????? #Jerusalema pic.twitter.com/co7EcGMJPX
— Master KG Music (@MasterKGsa) September 1, 2020
“(Now the song is) number one on Shazam. Being posted by Cristiano Ronaldo. Posted by Janet Jackson. Just a lot of amazing things. Things I’ve been dreaming of,” Moagi said.
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Home practice for Heritage Day #masterkg #JerusalemaDanceChallenge pic.twitter.com/yCBHbqHQIo
— Fyntea (@Dasdoglife) September 17, 2020
Here we go #JerusalemaDanceChallenge #Jerusalema #Jerusalemachallenge #MasterKG @MasterKGsa pic.twitter.com/6JFCGuwOqu
— Gary-Lee Pietersen (@GaryPietersen) September 18, 2020
In a televised address announcing the country was moving to the lowest level of lockdown restrictions, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa dared the entire nation to take the challenge.
Moagi said: “The music I make is for the people … It’s no longer my song, it’s a song for the world. It’s healing them and I’m blessed and honored by that.”
