Jerusalema
You might remember it as Jerusalema challenge, Master KG Jerusalema
This spread through many posts rather than one canonical upload.
A South African gospel-house track that got the world's nurses, monks and soldiers dancing in step.
At a glanceThe facts
- Remembered as
- Jerusalema challenge
- Format
- Phenomenon
- Performed by
- Master KG, featuring the singer Nomcebo Zikode
- Language
- Zulu
- First posted
- Released on 29 November 2019
- Origin
- No single original
- Available
- Not held by ViralWorld
What this wasThe story
Master KG and Nomcebo Zikode's 2019 song, taken up by an Angolan group's line dance and reproduced by hospitals, police forces, monasteries and airlines across 2020. Among the largest genuinely global dance phenomena ever recorded.
Why it matteredWhat changed
A song in Zulu became a dance done in dozens of countries in 2020, carried by a video of a group of friends dancing to it. Then a record company began asking the people who had danced for licence fees.
TimelineIn order
- Posted
Master KG releases Jerusalema, featuring Nomcebo Zikode. It had been recorded that August.1
- Posted
The music video is released.1
- Remixed
A remix with the singer Burna Boy is released.1
- Record
The video passes 100 million views on YouTube, as versions of the dance arrive from nuns and priests, airport ground crews and police forces challenging one another across borders.1
- Corrected
Der Spiegel reports that Warner Music has begun asking organisations that posted dance videos for licence fees.1
- Corrected
Nomcebo Zikode says she has not been paid for the song by its label.1
What people misrememberSet straight
Commonly remembered asA 2020 song.
ActuallyIt was released in November 2019. Only the remix and a shortened streaming edit came out in 2020.1
Commonly remembered asA Burna Boy song.
ActuallyHe appears only on the June 2020 remix. The original is by Master KG and Nomcebo Zikode, and its lyrics are in Zulu.1
How it spreadFrom one place to everywhere
- The dance came from a candid video posted by a group of friends in Angola, which other people copied.1
- The Swiss Federal Office of Police filmed a version and challenged Ireland’s Garda Síochána, who answered with their own.1
What it createdWhat came out of it
- The challenge it started Jerusalema Dance ChallengeChallenge · 2020
The challenge is a dance to this song, copied from a video a group of friends in Angola posted of themselves dancing to it.
Why it is here: something the internet still knows by name · it got out of its own corner of the internet fast · still being watched and quoted years later
Where it came fromWhat we know
This spread through many posts rather than one identifiable original. No copy is held here — what it was, when it spread and what people called it is what this page can tell you.
Nothing here is claimed to be the first version of this. It spread through many posts rather than from one identifiable original.
Not established. This index only names a creator where the evidence supports it.
SourcesWhat was read
Sources last read on . That date is about the history on this page. Whether the media still plays is checked separately and can change any day. How ViralWorld documents things