“Jerusalem is my home / Protect me, show me the way / Don’t leave me here…” Do these words imbued with Christian faith mean nothing to you? Yet they made the whole world dance in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic. In Zulu in the text, they are the first words of the tube Jerusalem. With more than 600 million views on YouTube, the hit by South Africans Master KG and Nomcebo Zikode is one of the markers of the global success of Afro music. But not only that. Its religious lyrics associated with catchy rhythms also echo the rise of a “new formula” gospel born on the African continent and which is a hit well beyond.
Among the 100 most listened to gospel artists in the world in 2024 on Spotify, eight were African, the platform announced in December. Among them, references like the South Africans of the group Joyous Celebration, who, in the 1990s, were among the first to introduce contemporary rhythms into African gospel. But also “afrogospel” singers mixing biblical messages with Afrobeats rhythms, like the Nigerian Mercy Chinwo, who stages a “army of Jesus” in his music video We Move.
You have 83.87% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
Lifestyle
France
