The Gospel track devised by South Africa DJ Master KG has spread on YouTube due to its rhythm, the voice of Nomcebo Zikode and the accompanying choreography. A sort of collective and shared response to the pandemic.

Last year was marked by the Covid-19 tragedy, but it was also the year of the ‘viral’ phenomenon’ – as it is commonly known – which, in the context of a worldwide catastrophe has become the bearer of greater values than those of a typical success (we recall pieces like Lambada at the end of the eighties or Macarena in the early nineties which were closely allied with the dimension of dance).

Master KG’s song ‘Jerusalema’ has taken the world by storm.

A phenomenon that in any case confirms something that has been evident for a number of years. African music has now entered international consumption in ways that are quite different from its niche in world music and the success of stars like those who emerged from the generations living in the second half of the twentieth century, and whose circulation is closely tied to the element of new rhythms and the relationship between music and types of dance.
It all started in the summer of 2019 when twenty-four-year-old South African Master KG, whose real name is Kgaogelo Moagi, from the province of Limpopo, elaborated a composition which he worked on with singer Nomcebo Zikode and began to put it online. It met with a good response and the final version was uploaded on YouTube in October with the official video being issued in December. The piece is punctuated by an overpowering rhythm with a pleasant melody and the voice of Nomcebo is warm and full of pathos. Astride 2019 and 2020, ‘Jerusalema’ was well received in the clubs of South Africa and received positive feedback even from abroad.

Zulu
It was in February of 2020 that ‘Jerusalema’ began to be a global phenomenon. The force behind this came from another African country. The young people of the Angolan dance group Fenómenos do Semba, posted on YouTube the choreography they created for ‘Jerusalema’: the boys and girls are sitting in a yard, having a meal. They are dressed in their everyday clothes, the boys bare-chested, listening to the song. One at a time, their plates in their hands, they start to dance.

Nomcebo Zikode, the voice behind “Jerusalema”

The video could not be more simple or spontaneous; perhaps this is why it actuates a mechanism of imitation, launching a Jerusalema ‘dance challenge’, the formula created by Tik Tok – an app that is widely used by young people – which consists of daring others to match their choreographies created around various songs. The ‘Jerusalema’ dance greatly increased the success of the song.
The spread of the choreographies and the international success of ‘Jerusalema’ grew at the very moment when the Covid pandemic was spreading outside China, nourished by the dramatic situation. A Gospel song (a type very popular in South Africa), the word from the Old Testament may effectively be very suitably applied to a phase in which many wish to reach a place beyond the oppressive world of the pandemic: “Jerusalem is my home / guide me/ take me with you/ do not leave me here/I do not belong here / my kingdom is not here / guide me/ take me with you”.

The song is actually sung in Zulu which not many people in the world understand; but this doesn’t matter as ‘Jerusalema’ is pleasant but, at the same time, with the power of its melody and the song, with the freshness and dynamism of the rhythm, has the quality of communicating something that goes beyond what is pleasant and transmits – without the need of understanding the words – a feeling of positivity and sensibility. A hymn without borders, ‘Jerusalema’s’ choreographies are very often more than just a game but a life-filled reaction to the pandemic, a symbol of resistance, a means of expression through dancing to a song with a message of solidarity and a feeling of belonging to a community without borders.

It is no mere coincidence that doctors and nurses in half the world’s hospitals have come together with ‘Jerusalema’. But – apart from the numerous children and young people – the choreographies have their representatives of various other categories: ambulance volunteers, firemen, soldiers, Sisters, monks. In the comments below the video, someone wrote that, if anyone wanted to create a non-national anthem for the whole world, ‘Jerusalema’ would be the most qualified candidate.

Marcello Lorrai

Cous cous, a popular emblematic dish of North Africa, has been placed on the list of intangible cultural heritage by Unesco, at the joint request of Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania and Tunisia.

It was something quite rare in the history of the Maghreb countries when Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania and Tunisia, in March 2019, together presented the candidate entitled ‘Knowledge, know-how and practices relative to the production and consumption of cous cous’, with no dispute concerning the paternity of this traditional food.
The initiative raises the hope that the dish may be the beginning of political rapprochement.

The grains of this food are obtained from wheat (or millet) roughly ground. The ground kernels are then sprinkled with flour and worked by hand by the women until they become like small seeds which are then passed through a sieve. The work demands much patience and time. Cous cous is always steamed in a special pot in which the lower part is used to cook vegetables and meat while the cous cous is placed in the upper part. The steam from the lower part passes through perforations and into the part with the cous cous. This food can be served in many different ways according to traditions. It may be cooked with meat or fish, vegetables or hard-boiled eggs. In Algeria, there is a version that is prepared with butter, sugar and raisins. It is this variety that allows it to be prepared in so many ways depending on the different territories while at the same time acting as a unifying culture over a vast area.

Cous cous is the dish consumed during feasts, gatherings, celebrations, weddings or funerals. Though it is not very nourishing, it represents a delicacy that evokes in those who have been accustomed to it from childhood, memories and reminiscences of family life. It is a dish that is shared, seated on the ground: the family or friends eat it from a single container, using a spoon or their hands.
The rule requires one to use three fingers of the right hand because, for Muslims, the devil eats with one finger, the prophet with two while five fingers indicate gluttony. Eating cous cous together is an act which cancels out conflicts and disagreements.

The books about food trace the popularity of cous cous to the Kuskusi of the 19th century but the cous cous we know today may well be much older and come from the 12th century (from the Berber seksou). It is certain that the Tunisian historian and sociologist Ibn Khaldun in the 16th century referred to cous cous as a symbol of the Berber culture.
In addition, the fame the dish acquired over the years is that of a ‘unifier’ among peoples.
Cous cous is praised differently in every country.  In Morocco, on 26 October of each year, the ‘World Cous Cous Day’ is observed; in Algeria, it is even part of the traditional school curriculum to study cous cous. Various cookery programmes on TV dwell upon the various recipes.
In Tunisia, cous cous workshops are held in the schools, while in Mauritania the state supports cooperatives that perpetuate the tradition of its preparation.

A Moroccan chef prepares a traditional couscous dish in a restaurant in the capital Rabat. (AFP)

Last December, UNESCO motivated the inclusion of cous cous as part of the intangible human patrimony ‘for the knowledge, know-how and practices relative to the production and consumption of cous cous’ that link together the four North African countries. In the case of cous cous, the techniques bring together the traditions of songs, gestures and oral traditions that accompany the preparation of the dish that is basically made from wheaten semolina, vegetables, meat or fish, and unites Berbers and Algerians, the cities and the countryside, the sweet and the salty, vegetarian or not, middle-class and working-class.
“Algeria cooks it in its own peculiar way while Morocco and Tunisia cook it differently”, the well-known Algerian chef remarks. “Even though I love my country deeply because I grew up there, there are no divisions, we are all equal and the cous cous is Maghrebi, something that belongs to us all”. Hicham Hazzoum, head of a famous Moroccan restaurant, the ‘Dar Naji’, like many chefs believes that cous cous should be recognised all over the world. Just like the pizza and other foods.
Rather than a dish, cous cous is a cultural patrimony that is culinary and made up of memories, traditions, knowledge, and gestures handed down from one generation to the next, with an infinite number of refinements.

Genevieve Devey

The importance of medicinal plants in primary health care systems to treat and manage various disease conditions cannot be underestimated. Warburgia salutaris (G.Bertol.) Chiov (Family Canellaceae); whose common name is ‘pepperbark tree’, is one of the highly commercialized medicinal plant trees.

It has been documented in many folkloric and ethnobotanical studies conducted in east, central and southern Africa, in which the species is greatly used as one of the primary sources of traditional medicine. The specific epithet salutaris is Latin meaning ‘healthful’, referencing its medicinal properties. The common name, ‘pepper-bark tree’, relates to the pungent inner bark that tastes peppery.

It is an endemic plant in sub-Saharan Africa in a number of countries including South Africa, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Malawi and Zambia. Traditionally, extracts and products produced from the Warburgia salutaris species are regarded as important natural African antibiotics and have been used extensively as part of traditional healing practices for the treatment of fungal, bacterial and protozoal infections in both humans and animals.  It is an evergreen tree with a dense, rounded crown growing to about 5-10 metres in height, but can occasionally reach 20 metres. The stem is covered by a rich brown bark, marked with corky lenticels, that is also bitter and peppery. It has a thick canopy of aromatic, shiny green leaves. The evergreen leaf blades are lance-shaped, measuring up to 11 cm long by 3 wide. It has small, white to greenish flowers, up to 7 mm in diameter. The fruit is a berry, leathery purple or black in color when ripe, measuring up to 4 cm wide.

For centuries, the Warburgia salutaris (pepper bark) tree has been traditionally used to treat many varied disease conditions. It’s commonly harvested from the wild and widely sold in local markets for medicinal purposes. Medicinally, the pepper-like, bitter stems and root bark are used to cure many ailments in traditional medicine including cough, cold, bronchial infections, oral thrush, and cystitis among other ailments.
The stem bark is used to treat diseases such as malaria, stomach ulcers, and colds. The decoction prepared from the harvested root bark of the Warburgia salutaris tree is used to treat coughs and the leaves used to alleviate skin irritation. The inner bark has many uses as a treatment for chest pains, coughs, diarrhoea, muscle pains, and general body pains. The stem bark is also used in traditional medicine as an expectorant and smoked to alleviate coughs and colds. The stem bark powder is also topically applied for treatment and management of body sores and inflammation. The powdered stem bark is mixed with fat and applied externally as an ointment.

The stem and root bark are both taken as a remedy for malaria. Powdered and mixed with water, they are used as a cure for sores in the mouth. As an expectorant or smoked, the root bark is a widely used remedy for common colds.
Dried and ground, they make a snuff used to clear the sinuses. Taken orally they are believed to cure spots in the lungs.
In addition to the medicinal uses, some communities use the bitter, peppery, aromatic leaves of the pepper-bark to flavour food, and also to make tea. The wood is sometimes used in building. A resin can be extracted from the bark. The bark is also a source of tannins. Muzigadial, which is one of the major phytochemicals found in Warburgia salutaris, has been observed to possess a potent antibacterial activity. In some communities, Warburgia salutaris is grown as an ornamental hedge and in some cases used as a shade tree in plantations.
Warburgia salutaris is over-harvested in the wild for medicinal use and is popularly sold in the local markets throughout its distribution range. The plant has been classified as ‘Endangered’ in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species (2011). In fact, the Pepper-Bark tree is already extinct in some areas, and considered critically endangered in some countries in southern Africa where the plant is endemic.

Richard Komakech

The discovery by Egyptian archaeologists of more than a hundred sealed sarcophagi in the necropolis of the Ancient Kingdom of Memphis (2700-2192 B.C.) will allow researchers to gain information about daily life in this place.

There are places whose sacred nature remains alive over the course of centuries or even millennia. This applies especially to Saqqara in Egypt, thirty kilometres south of Cairo. This site, chosen as a necropolis by many sovereigns of Memphis, the capital of Egypt during the Ancient Kingdom (2700-2192 B.C.), is known as the location of the oldest stone pyramid in the world: the step pyramid of Djoser.

The ancient necropolis of Saqqara, in the desert of Egypt.

Nevertheless, five thousand years ago, at the dawn of Egyptian history, the sands of Saqqara began to hold the burial places of aristocrats and functionaries and also when, at the end of the Ancient Kingdom, the sovereigns decided to move their capitals far from Memphis and to choose new sites for their necropolises, Saqqara continued to house the tombs of many nobles and, more than anything else, the tombs of animals! Precisely at the start of the New Kingdom, three thousand five hundred years ago, various necropolises were built that were dedicated to sacred animals and some divinities. Among the more important of these is the Serapeum, the burial place of the Apis bulls, and the Bubasteion, dedicated to sacred cats and the goddess Bastet.

It was in the area of the Bubasteion, beneath the cliffs to the east of the pyramids of Djoser, that the archaeological Mission of the ministry of tourism and Egyptian antiquities made a large number of discoveries. The first in November 2018, announced to the world the discovery of an intact tomb of the Ancient Kingdom containing statues and decorations showing scenes from daily life and the afterlife. Inside the tomb, which belonged to the priest Wahty, the bodies of the whole family were discovered including, besides Wahty himself, his mother, his wife and four young children, probably victims of an epidemic.

100 sarcophagi and 40 wooden statues

Beginning in September 2020, the secretary of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, Mostafa Waziri, announced a series of discoveries that were truly sensational and concerned some funeral shafts full of sarcophagi: a type of burial typical of the functionaries of the XXVI dynasty (VIII-VII century B.C.). In early September, thirteen intact sarcophagi were found, followed by fourteen more after just two weeks and reached a total, at the beginning of October, of fifty-nine sealed sarcophagi, twenty-eight statues of Ptah-Sokar-Osiris, the god of the necropolis of Saqqara, and an extremely large number of hand-made objects that were part of the funeral requirements (for example, the ushabti figurines representing the servants that would have accompanied and served the deceased in the after-life).

Sarcophagi, excavated by the Egyptian archaeological mission, are displayed during a press conference, Oct. 3, 2020, at the Saqqara necropolis, 30 kms south of the Egyptian capital Cairo. (Khaled Desouki/AFP)

This inspiring discovery was followed by a communique on 14 November announcing a press conference called by the minister of Tourism and Antiquities, Khaled el-Enany, giving the news of the discovery of more than a hundred sealed sarcophagi to be added to the existing number of fifty-nine.  As well as all of these, around forty wooden statues (some covered in gold) of Ptah-Sokar- Osiris, four gold-covered funeral masks, a score of canopic boxes for the entrails of the deceased and many other pieces of funeral articles, as well as two wooden statues 120 cm and 175 cm tall, belonging even to the Ancient Kingdom. The sarcophagi and their decorations were thought to belong to the dynasties of the Late Period (664-332 B.C.), and partly to the Ptolemaic Period, or the last centuries before Christ when Egypt was governed by the Macedonian dynasty after the conquest of Alexander the Great. During the same press conference, a sarcophagus was actually opened and the mummy was x-rayed which revealed some information about the dead person: an adult male, probably around forty years old, between 166 cm and 175 cm tall. The archaeological mission also announced another significant discovery to be revealed in the following weeks.

Apart from the impressive number of sarcophagi, which may well be added to, since the examination of the shafts is partly prevented by discoveries that have still to be extracted, that which these discoveries once again confirm is the chronological continuity with which, for at least four millennia, the site of Saqqara was chosen as their necropolis by the Egyptians. In this sense, it is remarkable that, alongside the sarcophagi of the Late and Ptolemaic Periods, statues and tombs more than two thousand years old should have been discovered. Besides the extraction of all the sarcophagi and the other objects still under the ground, people are anxiously waiting for the results of studies on the context of these discoveries.
Saqqara, having been associated for several centuries with the cult of sacred animals, was the destination of what may be called pilgrimages that sustained the activities of a vast priestly community probably connected to some hitherto undiscovered temples of which little is known. It is hoped that these objects, apart from their undoubted beauty, may throw some light on the intense daily life that was led in this extremely sacred area that still has so much to reveal to those dedicated to studying it.

Lorenzo Guardiano