Mbende /jerusarema is adance that reflects the life of a mouse called Mbende. It is a courtship dance that uses 2 up to 12 drums that are played at once depending with the drummer. Mukwa or wooden clappers are also used in tally with the drums,shakers or hosho are also used to add mellody to the dance and songs also varies from occasion to occasion.Mbendeis a balanced dance in terms of male and female participation hence mostly men play the instruments.Mbende can be performed on all occasions of the Zezuru tribe., Mostly it is performed by the community of Murehwa, Uzumba Maramba Pfungwe (UMP) in north eastern districts of Zimbabwe,It also significe fertility and hence the dance became the dance became very popular with the locals. The original name for this dance is Dembe or Mbende but the name Jerusarema came after the Christian Missionaries who came to the area and disapproved the sexual explicitly dance but the community/practioners fearing for it's extinction decided to a Christian name as Jerusarema, a Shona pronunciation of Jerusalem ( The Holly City) and definitely survived the Christian onslaught until today. UNESCO, in it's wisdom and in order to safeguard the dance, proclaimed it a Masterpiece of the oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.

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