What hell hath Weezer wrought?
OK, that’s harsh. Love it or loathe it, Toto’s original version of “Africa” is an innocuous enough slice of early ’80s soft rock, all warm, pillowy synths and tinkling percussion.
Then Rivers Cuomo and the Weezer gang had the bright idea to cover “Africa” unironically, setting off a Weezer/Toto public love-fest that continues to pay dividends.
Now, an installation artist has taken the “Africa” cover game to an entirely different level.
Inspired by the 1982’s song’s refusal to die, Namibian-German artist Max Siedentopf installed “Toto Forever” in Namibia late last year. According to NPR, six speakers are situated atop individual plinths and attached to an MP3 player that contains only Toto’s “Africa.” The installation is solar powered, and Siedentopf promises that it will play forever. See it in action below.
“I was very intrigued by this and wanted to pay the song the ultimate homage and physically exhibit ‘Africa’ in Africa,” Siedentopf told NPR. “The Namibian desert—which is, with fifty-five million years, the oldest desert in the world—seemed to be the perfect spot for this.”
For anyone serious enough to attempt to hunt down the installation, Siedentopf has kindly provided a map to its location. FL
