It is also not entirely surprising that the viral dance sequence associated with Jerusalema came from Angola. It not only offers catchy dance music and a relatable message, it also makes local market history for gospel-dance fusion. The song has essentially penetrated this large market but also had an impact on local music market benchmarks. What is interesting is that in South Africa, gospel music traditionally outsells most other popular music genres. Many crossover songs go viral because they straddle target audiences in different genres. This translates anywhere Christianity plays a social or institutional role, making the song resonate beyond its danceability.Īnd this makes Jerusalema another successful crossover – a popular house music song that also manages to be a gospel song. It has resonated with people who may not understand the isiZulu lyrics, but understand its inherent religious theme, because of associations with the biblical city Jerusalem. Jerusalema went viral during the isolation and loss caused by COVID-19 lockdowns world-wide. Beyond this, Jerusalema’s message of seeking guidance and protection towards a spiritual home in a turbulent time is also relevant for this historical moment. Its popularity comes not only at a time when songs with a dance sequence often have a viral life, like Drake’s online hit In My Feelings or the pre-internet Macarena by Los Del Rio.
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So Simon’s fame plus cumulative factors helped make Graceland a hit album. By making the album with black South African musicians, Simon defied apartheid, but also disregarded the cultural boycott of South Africa. But they were similarly riding the wave of rebellion. The South African hits emanating from Paul Simon’s Graceland album – like Ladysmith Black Mambazo’s Homeless – were incredibly popular in Europe and North America. Its popularity in Africa, Europe, North America and other parts of the world was enabled not only by her fame as a singer but also by her political activism and networks against the apartheid regime. The Angolan dancers who helped South African anthem Jerusalema go globalĪnother prominent song was Miriam Makeba’s infectious dance hit Pata Pata during the height of apartheid in the 1960s. The success of what is now known as Wimoweh (The Lion Sleeps Tonight) was possible because of its exploitation of Linda’s labour and intellectual property rights. Since then it has become a multi-generational staple in stage productions and Hollywood films and covered by numerous bands around the world. Mbube was misinterpreted as Wimoweh almost at once by American folk singer Peter Seeger. The first is Mbube, written by Solomon Linda and performed with his troupe the Evening Birds in the 1930s. South Africa’s greatest hitsįew South African songs have achieved this kind of global status and these have been tied to political or historical moments that enabled their popularity and spread. This should give us a clue about its particular significance. Instead Jerusalema kept growing in popularity during the national COVID-19 lockdown.
The song also befuddles because it seems to have fallen outside of the traditional South African summer dance release trajectory, which usually means that such songs get endless airplay throughout the holidays and then their ubiquity dies down.
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Why, when there have been so many other similar uplifting local dance hits, does this song have such a potent viral capacity that’s broken download records and received over 200 million clicks on the official music video to date? The official music video for Jerusalema. A frequent question in my social circles is, why this song? Many are trying to figure out what makes Jerusalema so exceptional in its popularity. Internationally, politicians, sports stars, priests, nuns and monks, shop attendants, healthcare workers and infinite other global citizens have posted countless videos of themselves participating in group dancing, accepting the Jerusalema dance challenge.Īs much as the song has captured global attention, it has also inspired curiosity among those already familiar with the repetitive, slower, four-to-a-bar beat of South African house music. The song is performed by musician and producer Master KG and vocalist Nomcebo Zikode.Īpart from the song’s omnipresence on the sound systems of a cross-section of socio-economic neighbourhoods across South Africa, it has become a viral dance phenomenon, drawing in a diverse global audience. There’s something seemingly novel about a song from South Africa going viral to the extent that the 2019 house music song Jerusalema has done in 2020.
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