Africa (song)

Africa
Toto
publication	June 1982 (UK) October 1982 (USA)
length	4:58
Genre (s)	Rock music
text	David Paich
music	David Paich, Jeff Porcaro
album	Toto IV

Chart positions Explanation of the data

Singles

Africa   DE 14th 09/13/1982 (23 weeks)   AT 7th 11/01/1982 (10 weeks)   CH 6th 10/31/1982 (6 weeks)   UK 3 01/29/1983 (11 weeks)   US 1 10/30/1982 (21 weeks)

Africa is a song by the American rock band Toto . The lyrics are by keyboardist David Paich , the composition by Paich and drummer Jeff Porcaro .

Emergence

The song was the second song the band recorded for the album Toto IV . Was inspired Toto keyboardist David Paich through the advertising of UNICEF , the starving children in Africa were shown. With the song he wanted to draw attention to their fate. Paich wrote the melody on the piano in his living room within ten minutes . He worked on the lyrics for six months and presented the framework for the song to Jeff Porcaro. Paich's idea was that African percussion instruments should be the central element of the song. Porcaro and the percussionist Lenny Castro recorded a five-minute tape of the basic rhythm with marimbas , congas and a wooden xylophone , from which they then put together what they thought were the most successful parts by means of loops to form an approximately six-minute basic track. In the recording studio, the other instruments were recorded and overdubbed . Bobby Kimball , Steve Lukather and Paich sing in the background choir.

publication

The song was released in 1982 on the album Toto IV and reached various high chart positions, including number 1 on the US Billboard charts and number 3 on the British single charts in February 1983 .

Cover versions

• A cover version of the Los Angeles- based amateur choir Angel City Chorale , published on YouTube in 2013 , has so far (as of May 2020) had almost 16 million hits.
• In May 2018, Weezer covered the song following a fan-initiated social media campaign. Due to the continued success of this cover version, Weezer later shot a music video with artist Weird Al 'Yankovic .

Trivia

In 2019 the Namibian-German artist Max Siedentopf used the song for an "infinite installation" in the Namib desert . There, Africa is played permanently by a solar-powered system.

Awards for music sales

Toto

Country / Region	Award	Sales
Awards for music sales (country / region, Award, Sales)
Australia (ARIA)	7 × platinum	490,000
Denmark (IFPI)	platinum	90,000
Italy (FIMI)	platinum	50,000
Canada (MC)	gold	50,000
New Zealand (RMNZ)	gold	7,500
United States (RIAA)	5 × platinum	5,000,000
United Kingdom (BPI)	2 × platinum	1,200,000
All in all	2 × gold 16 × platinum	6,887,500

Weezer

Country / Region	Award	Sales
Awards for music sales (country / region, Award, Sales)
United States (RIAA)	gold	500,000
All in all	1 × gold	500,000

Web links

• Africa at songfacts.com
• Robyn Flans: Classic Tracks: Toto's "Africa". Mix Magazine, August 1, 2005, accessed October 7, 2016 . 
• Lukas Karsten: Africa . In: Song Lexicon . Retrieved November 3, 2014.
• Music video on YouTube

Individual evidence

1. ↑ release date UK
2. ↑ release date USA
3. ↑ Sources for chart placements: DE / AT / CH / UK , accessed on October 26, 2010.
4. ^ Africa - Angel City Chorale. In: YouTube . Angel City Chorale, November 25, 2013, accessed May 14, 2020 . 
5. ↑ Jason Samenow: Watch and listen: Amazing choir creates a storm with nothing but their hands and feet. In: The Washington Post . June 15, 2017, accessed on May 14, 2020 . 
6. ↑ newyorker.com Hurry, Boy, It's Waiting There for You: Weezer Covers “Africa”
7. ↑ Totally weird: Weird Al 'Yankovic and Weezer play Toto. Retrieved January 15, 2019 . 
8. ↑ Toto now part of an infinite art installation. In: 80s80s . Retrieved May 14, 2020 . 
9. ↑ Award in Australia
10. ^ Award in Denmark
11. ↑ Award in Italy
12. ↑ Award in Canada
13. ↑ Award in New Zealand
14. ↑ Award in the United States (Toto)
15. ↑ Award in the United Kingdom
16. ↑ Award in the United States (Weezer)