| "Africa" | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| File:Toto - Africa.jpg | |||||||||||
| Single by Toto | |||||||||||
| from the album Toto IV | |||||||||||
| B-side | "Good For You" "We Made It" (Europe) "Africa" (live) (1990 re-release) |
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| Released | October 1982 | ||||||||||
| Format | 7", CD | ||||||||||
| Recorded | 1981 - 1982 | ||||||||||
| Genre | New wave, soft rock, world music | ||||||||||
| Length | 4:58 | ||||||||||
| Label | Columbia | ||||||||||
| Writer(s) | David Paich, Jeff Porcaro | ||||||||||
| Producer | Toto | ||||||||||
| Toto singles chronology | |||||||||||
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"Africa" is a song by rock band Toto, and one of the band's most recognizable songs. It was included on their 1982 album Toto IV, and reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in February 1983 and number three on the UK Singles Chart the same month. The song was written by the band's keyboardist/vocalist David Paich and drummer Jeff Porcaro.
Contents |
Background [link]
The initial idea for the song came from David Paich. Jeff Porcaro explains the idea behind the song: "... a white boy is trying to write a song on Africa, but since he's never been there, he can only tell what he's seen on TV or remembers in the past."[1]
David Paich said: "At the beginning of the '80s I watched a late night documentary on TV about all the terrible death and suffering of the people in Africa. It both moved and appalled me and the pictures just wouldn't leave my head. I tried to imagine how I'd feel about if I was there and what I'd do."[2]
Musically the song took quite some time to assemble, as Paich and Porcaro explain:
"On 'Africa' you hear a combination of marimba with GS 1. The kalimba is all done with the GS 1; it's six tracks of GS 1 playing different rhythms. I wrote the song on CS-80, so that plays the main part of the entire tune."[3]
Jeff Porcaro reminisces about how the song's percussion tracks took shape:
"I was about 11 when the New York's World Fair took place, and I went to the African pavilion with my family. I saw the real thing; I don't know what tribe, but there were these drummers playing, and my mind was blown... It was the first time I witnessed someone playing one beat and not straying from it, like a religious experience, where it gets loud, and everyone goes into a trance. I have always dug those kind of orchestras, whether it be a band or all drummers... and I said, 'Gee, someday there's going to be a little drum orchestra where everybody plays one thing, and you don't stray from it. You do it until you drop. You're banished from that land if you move from that one part.'
"So when we were doing 'Africa', I set up a bass drum, snare drum and a hi-hat, and Lenny Castro set up right in front of me with a conga. We looked at each other and just started playing the basic groove.... The backbeat is on 3, so it's a half-time feel, and it's 16th notes on the hi-hat. Lenny started playing a conga pattern. We played for five minutes on tape, no click, no nothing. We just played. And I was singing the bass line for 'Africa' in my mind, so we had a relative tempo. Lenny and I went into the booth and listened back to the five minutes of that same boring pattern. We picked out the best two bars that we thought were grooving, and we marked those two bars on tape. We made another mark four bars before those two bars. Lenny and I went back out; I had a cowbell, Lenny had a shaker. They gave us two new tracks, and they gave us the cue when they saw the first mark go by. Lenny and I started playing to get into the groove, so by the time the that fifth bar came – which was the first bar of the two bars we marked as the cool bars we liked – we were locked, and we overdubbed shaker and cowbell.
"So there was bass drum, snare drum, hi-hat, two congas, a cowbell, and a shaker. We went back in, cut the tape, and made a one-bar tape loop... Maybe it would have taken two minutes to program that in the Linn, and it took about half an hour to do this. But a Linn machine doesn't feel like that! So we had an analog groove. We took that tape, transferred it onto another 24-track for six minutes, and David Paich and I went out in the studio. The song started, and I was sitting there with a complete drumset, and Paich was playing. When he got to the fill before the chorus, I started playing the chorus, and when the verse or the intro came back, I stopped playing. Then we had piano and drums on tape. You have to realize that there are some odd bars in 'Africa', so when you have a one-bar loop going, all of a sudden, sometimes Lenny's figure would turn around. So Lenny went in and played the song again, but this time he changed his pattern a little for the turnarounds, for the fills, for the bridge, for the solo. We kept the original part and the new one. Then we had to do bongos, jingle sticks, and big shakers doing quarter notes, maybe stacking two tracks of sleigh bells, two tracks of big jingle sticks, and two tracks of tambourine all down to one track. I was trying to get the sounds I would hear Milt Holland or Emil Richards have, or the sounds I would hear in a 'National Geographic' special, or the ones I heard at the New York World's Fair."[4]
"Africa" was played on all of Toto's tours from its release until the band's breakup in 2008.[5] It was sung by David Paich at the 2009 Millennium Development Goals Awards Ceremony.[6][7]
Music video [link]
The music video was directed by Steve Barron.[8] The story is of a researcher in a library (portrayed by band member David Paich), looking for clues to a book called Africa. Many scenes include the band performing atop a stack of hardcover books. This video also features Mike Porcaro on bass, replacing the original bassist David Hungate who had already left the band before the video was made.
Covers [link]
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This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2009) |
- The song has been covered in 1982 by Key of Dreams, Italo Disco style.
- The Shadows did an instrumental of the song in 1983.
- Singer-songwriters Howie Day and Virginia Coalition and Umphrey's McGee perform versions of "Africa" in their live shows, and the song has been a popular cover for a cappella groups.
- SubAudible Hum covered this song for Triple J's Like a Version.
- Belgian-born Canadian singer Lara Fabian used this song on her Nue Tour in 2001 as an interlude performance to her Nue album track "Rio" with one of her backup singers singing lead on the verses.
- German band Pyogenesis covered their song in their full length album, Mono, ... or will it ever be.
- Phonte Coleman, member of the rap group Little Brother covered the song for his 1980's cover album, Zo and Tigallo Love the 80's.
- Chris de Burgh covered it on his 2008 covers album Footsteps.
- Lowry recorded a cover of the song for Engine Room Recordings' compilation album Guilt by Association Vol. 2, which was released in November 2008.[9]
- Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra recorded a cover the song on their 2009 release, The Dreaming EP.
- Olivia Lufkin did a slow cover of the song on her "Sea Me" single.
- Straight No Chaser did an a capella cover of the song in the late 1990s for a bonus track on their album, Holiday Spirits. They rerecorded the song as an Amazon.com exclusive track for their 2010 album, With A Twist. (The song was also included in the group's most famous work, the "Twelve Days of Christmas" medley, which ends with "Africa" set to Christmas-themed lyrics.)
- Alternative Christian rock band Relient K has performed the song at some of their live shows in 2010, and included it on their 2011 cover album, Is for Karaoke.
- Acoustic guitar virtuoso Andy McKee also did a solo arrangement of "Africa" for guitar, encompassing many percussive and alternative techniques that are the hallmarks of his playing.
- Philip Lawson of The King's Singers has done an arrangement of the song, now performed by many high-school choirs. It is published by Hal Leonard Corporation.
- The Slovenian a capella group, Perpetuum Jazzile did a version of this song from their album of the same name, Africa. They credit their version to Kearsney College Choir, who did a version as well.
- Laura Broad, founding member of Channel 5's Don't Stop Believing Supergroup, created an acoustic cover of Africa in January 2012. The recording was analogue.
- Quietdrive, of Minneapolis, Minnesota, recorded a cover after fans voted for it during the band's, "Your Record/Our Spin" project.[10]
Samplings and adaptations [link]
- Italian project Max Who sampled the song for their single "Ciao Africa" in 1992.
- Rapper Nas sampled the song for his single "New World" in 1999 from his album Nastradamus.
- Rapper Xzibit sampled the song in the song "Heart of Man" in 2002 from his album Man vs. Machine.
- Pop singer JoJo (singer) uses the chorus in her song "Anything" on her 2006 album The High Road.
- Lebanese-Canadian singer Karl Wolf used the song for his single "Africa". His release featuring Culture and with new lyrics except for the refrain was a big success in Canada, Japan and the Middle East. The track is included in his 2008 album Bite The Bullet.
- Pop singer Jason Derülo has used an interpolation of the chorus in his single, "Fight for You" from his 2011 album Future History. Earlier in 2011, Stevie Hoang (a co-writer of the song) and Iyaz had recorded a version of "Fight for You" also with the Toto "Africa" refrain, with slightly different lyrics from the Derülo release in some of the lines. The recording was leaked before it had been finalized and may have been shelved because of the leak and the popularity of the consequent Jason Derülo release.
- Pittsburgh Rapper Wiz Khalifa sampled the song for his single "Huey Newton".
- Rapper Ja Rule from New York sampled the song for his single "Murder Reigns" in 2002.
- In "Scrubs" episode My Way Home, pays homage to The Wizard of Oz with J.D. carrying "Toto" on his iPod
- The second season of TV series Chuck showed fictional duo Jeffster! covering the track in the episode "Chuck Versus the Best Friend".
- The Family Guy episode "Internal Affairs" features the song as a plot point in reuniting Bonnie and Joe Swanson.
Personnel [link]
- Steve Lukather - backing vocals, guitar
- Bobby Kimball - backing vocal
- David Hungate - bass
- Jeff Porcaro - drums, percussion
- Steve Porcaro - synthesizer
- David Paich - lead and backing vocals, piano, synthesizer
Guest Musicians [link]
- Jim Horn - recorders
- Lenny Castro - congas, percussion
- Joe Porcaro - marimbas, percussion
- Timothy B. Schmitt - backing vocal
Charts [link]
| Chart (1982-3) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Kent Music Report[11] | 5 |
| Austrian Top 40[12] | 7 |
| Belgian Singles Chart | 8 |
| Canadian RPM Adult Contemporary Tracks | 8 |
| Canadian RPM Top Singles | 1 |
| Dutch Singles Chart[12] | 2 |
| Europarade | 17 |
| Finnish Singles Chart | 18 |
| French Singles Chart | 27 |
| German Singles Chart[12] | 14 |
| Irish Singles Chart | 2 |
| Italian Singles Chart | 22 |
| New Zealand Singles Chart[12] | 8 |
| Polish Singles Chart | 19 |
| South African Singles Chart | 18 |
| Spanish Radio Chart | 18 |
| Swiss Singles Chart[12] | 6 |
| U.K. Singles Chart[13] | 3 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 1 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks | 3 |
Year-End Chart [link]
| Chart (1982) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Dutch Top 40 | 18 |
| Belgian VRT Top 30 | 85 |
| German Media Control Charts | 88 |
| Chart (1983) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Canadian RPM Top Singles | 16 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 24 |
| Australian Kent Music Report | 25 |
| U.K. Singles Charts | 38 |
| Italian Singles Chart | 75 |
See also [link]
- Africa (Karl Wolf song)
- Fight for You by Jason Derülo
- List of RPM number-one singles of 1983
- List of Hot 100 number-one singles of 1983 (U.S.)
References [link]
- ^ "Official TOTO Website - Encyclopedia". www.toto99.com. 2007-04-18. https://www.toto99.com/blog/ency.php?/archives/269-AFRICA.html. Retrieved 2011-11-03.
- ^ "Official TOTO Website - Releases". www.toto99.com. https://www.toto99.com/releases/toto/balladsrelease.shtml. Retrieved 2011-11-03.
- ^ Keyboard, 09/1995
- ^ Modern Drummer (November 1988)
- ^ "Setlists of TOTO". Members.tripod.com. https://members.tripod.com/toto_rocks/id18.html. Retrieved 2011-11-03.
- ^ "David Paich to perform at United Nations M.D.G. Awards". https://www.totonetwork.com/node/18419322.
- ^ https://www.totonetwork.com/node/18443851
- ^ "Toto - "Africa"". mvdbase.com. https://www.mvdbase.com/video.php?id=28175. Retrieved 2011-11-03.
- ^ Matthew Solarski (19 November 2008). "My Brightest Diamond, Frightened Rabbit Do Covers". Pitchfork. https://pitchfork.com/news/34070-my-brightest-diamond-frightened-rabbit-do-covers/. Retrieved 2009-06-11.
- ^ https://yourrecordourspin.com/song_list.php
- ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
- ^ a b c d e Steffen Hung. "Toto - Africa". swedishcharts.com. https://swedishcharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Toto&titel=Africa&cat=s. Retrieved 2011-11-03.
- ^ "UK Top 40 Chart Archive, British Singles & Album Charts". everyHit.com. 2000-03-16. https://www.everyhit.co.uk. Retrieved 2011-11-03.
External links [link]
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https://wn.com/Africa_(Toto_song)
Toto
Toto may refer to:
Tribes
- Toto language, Tibeto-Burman language spoken by Toto tribe members
Locations
Sport
Music
- Toto (album), the aforementioned group's debut album
Name or nickname
People
Toto (gorilla)
Toto (1931–1968) (a.k.a. M'Toto meaning "Little Child" in Swahili) was a gorilla that was adopted and raised very much like a human child.
A. Maria Hoyt adopted the baby female gorilla orphaned by a hunt in French Equatorial Africa in 1931. Mrs. Hoyt's husband killed the baby gorilla's father for a museum piece, and his guides killed its mother for fun. Mrs. Hoyt moved to Cuba to provide a more tropical home for Toto. At the age of four or five, Toto adopted a kitten named Principe, carrying the kitten with her everywhere. When Toto became too difficult to manage for a private keeper, she was leased to the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus as a potential mate for another gorilla, Gargantua, a.k.a. Buddy. Toto died in 1968. Toto is buried at "Sandy Lane" Kennels Pet Cemetery in Sarasota, Florida.
References
Further reading
Totò
Prince Antonio Griffo Focas Flavio Angelo Ducas Comneno Porfirogenito Gagliardi De Curtis di Bisanzio, best known by his stage name Totò (Italian pronunciation: [toˈtɔ]; 15 February 1898 – 15 April 1967) or as Antonio De Curtis, and nicknamed il Principe della risata ("the Prince of laughter"), was an Italian comedian, film and theatre actor, writer, singer and songwriter. He is widely considered one of the greatest Italian artists of the 20th century. While he first gained his popularity as a comic actor, his dramatic roles, his poetry, and his songs are all deemed to be outstanding; his style and a number of his recurring jokes and gestures have become universally known memes in Italy. Writer and philosopher Umberto Eco has thus commented on the importance of Totò in Italian culture:
Mario Monicelli, who directed some of the most appreciated of Totò's movies, thus described his artistic value:
As a comic actor, Totò is classified as an heir of the Commedia dell'Arte tradition, and has been compared to such figures as Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin. He starred in about one hundred movies; while many of them were low profile, box-office driven productions, they tend to be all appreciated by the critics, at the very least, for Totò's performances many classify as masterpieces of Italian cinema. Prominent Italian directors and actors that have worked with Totò include Mario Monicelli, Alberto Lattuada, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Eduardo De Filippo, Peppino de Filippo, Aldo Fabrizi, Vittorio De Sica, Sophia Loren, Claudia Cardinale, Marcello Mastroianni, Nino Manfredi, Vittorio Gassman and Alberto Sordi.
Africa (Petrarch)
Africa is an epic poem in Latin hexameters by the 14th century Italian poet Petrarch (Francesco Petrarca). It tells the story of the Second Punic War, in which the Carthaginian general Hannibal invaded Italy, but Roman forces were eventually victorious after an invasion of north Africa led by Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus, the epic poem's hero.
Background
Africa and De viris illustribus were partially inspired by Petrarch's visit to Rome in 1337. According to Bergin and Wilson (p. ix). It seems very likely that the inspirational vision of the Eternal City must have been the immediate spur to the design of the Africa and probably De viris illustribus as well. After returning from his grand tour, the first sections of Africa were written in the valley of Vaucluse. Petrarch recalls
The fact that he abandoned it early on is not entirely correct since it was far along when he received two invitations (from Rome and from Paris) in September 1340 each asking him to accept the crown as poet laureate. A preliminary form of the poem was completed in time for the laurel coronation April 8, 1341 (Easter Sunday).
Africa (Perpetuum Jazzile album)
Africa is 2009 Perpetuum Jazzile album. By large most successful song from the album is a capella version of Toto's "Africa", the performance video of which has received more than 15 million YouTube views since its publishing in May 2009 until September 2013.
Track listing
References
Africa (film)
Africa is a 1930 Walter Lantz cartoon short featuring Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.
Plot
Oswald was riding through the Egyptian desert on his camel. The camel, though looking real on the exterior, is actually mechanical because of the two ball-shaped pistons inside which Oswald manipulates with his feet like bike pedals. One day, a lion was running toward them. To defend himself, Oswald brought out a rifle but it malfunctioned. As a final resort, Oswald fired the ball pistons from the camel like a cannon and aimed into the lion's mouth. Terrified by its lumpy back, the lion runs away in panic.
Nearby where he is, Oswald saw an oasis and a palace. Upon seeing the apes dance and play instruments, the curious rabbit decides to join the fun. As he entered the palace, Oswald was greeted by the queen. The queen asked him who he is, and Oswald introduced himself in a song as well as giving advice for a possibly better lifestyle. Pleased by his visit, the queen asked Oswald if he would like to be her king. Oswald was at first uncertain, knowing he never met a queen, but immediately accepted. It turns out momentarily that the queen still has a king who shows up then throws Oswald out of the palace and into a pond full of crocodiles. Luckily, Oswald escapes unscathed and runs off into the desert.
