The group is called "Phenomena of the Semba" and was celebrated for the "dance of the Jerusalem", which gained followers all over the world after the birthday video reached the social networks and became viral.
"We put in the social networks [the choreography] and in two days we already had two million views and that was the success of the Jerusalema", explained the responsible of the group, Adilson Maíza, in declarations to Lusa agency.
Everything happened in February of this year, when the group got together to celebrate the fifth year of their existence and, in a restricted environment, due to the covid-19, decided, with the food dishes in hand, to dance the so called "family dance", typical of Angola, to the sound of the song "Jerulasema Ikayalami", from the DJ and the South African singers Master KG and Nomcebo Zikobe.
The "Fenômenos do Semba" appeared in 2015 and integrate 10 elements, including his mentor, Adilson Maíza, 24, dancer, teacher, choreographer of African dances and senior technician of aeronautical management.
The dancer got to know the music through one of the members of the group, who, in January of this year, was in South Africa at a festival and listened to "Jerusalema".
"He brought us the music, we went to see the lyrics and it matched with what we were experiencing at the moment, we were enjoying the anniversary, but almost with nothing, so the music motivated us, in a way, to be able to continue, even without possibility to celebrate," he said.
For Maíza, the dance clearly contributed to making the music better known, emphasizing that it wasn't heard in many places before, even in African countries, where they traveled before achieving planetary success.
"We have traveled the world in favor of national culture, to spread the national culture, to give 'workshops', dance classes, and we have never heard that music. It made us listen to our colleague", he reinforced.
According to Adilson Maíza, since the moment they published the video, people started to follow the 'challenge' they created and were going to get the music to dance, promoting its propagation worldwide, projecting the success of the music, as well as the choreography.
"We still haven't had a direct contact with the musician, but from the moment he realized that it's young Angolans who created the challenge, he started following us on social networks and in one of the interviews [that he gave] to international television channels he mentioned that it's really young Angolans who created it and made his music become viral worldwide", he underlined.
Adilson Maíza acknowledged that the success of the group's choreography was also "thanks to the music," released in 2019, expressing extreme interest in collaborating with DJ Master KG and singer Nomcebo Zikobe to perform other works, musicals and dances, "in order to transmit more joy, more positive energy, to the public.
According to the choreographer, the elements of the group, all already dancers before joining the "Fenómenos dos Sembas", feel happy and honored, for having managed, through dance, to raise the name of Angola.
"It's a happiness, because besides Angola, the whole world is dancing and they know that they are young Angolans who created the 'challenge', the choreography, which became viral, we are super happy for that", he declared.
The group doesn't know in how many countries people have danced to the sound of "Jerusalema", but they emphasize that every day until now they receive new videos. In Africa, they come from Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Congo, Morocco, Senegal, in Europe, received from Poland, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Switzerland, Portugal, France, and in America, the movements inspired by the "family dance" make furore in the United States and Brazil.
"Every day we receive thousands of new videos. We have also taught the choreography to organs of the Interior Ministry of other countries, in this case the police, firemen, doctors, is a great happiness for us," said the dancer, informing that they have made available on Youtube channel a tutorial where they teach the steps of the dance.
Internally, fame has already led them to the vice-president of the Republic, Bornito de Sousa, who congratulated them on their success and took the opportunity to listen to the projects and concerns of the group.
"We are waiting, so that things can work out, because it's very true that the dance side in Angola still lacks a lot of support, so we also hope that the State will support us, because if we've done this it's because we can do more, but with more support, alone we can't", he stressed.
Adilson Maíza said that with the video, the "Fenômenos do Semba" (The Phenomena of the Semba) wanted to show the happiness and simplicity of Africans, especially Angolans.
"We wanted to show that it is possible to be happy, even with little, and in difficult times that we are going through with covid-19. We wanted to convey to people that even in this difficult time they can be happy, dancing and with the proper social detachment," Maíza stressed.
