An Artist Set Up Solar-Powered Speakers In The Namib Desert To Play "Africa" By Toto On Loop For The Rest Of Time
Sound Installation in Africa Plays Toto’s Africa Forever Set in the Namib desert, which is not only the oldest desert in Africa but the world, I set up a sound installation which pays tribute to probably the most popular song of the last four decades:
Toto – Africa
The sound installation consists of 6 speakers which are attached to an MP3 player that only has one song on it – Toto’s Africa. The song is put on loop and the installation runs on solar batteries to keep Toto going for all eternity.
I have to admit, I am kinda torn on this little stunt. I like it because “Africa” has been banger for years and will be a banger long after we are all dead and buried. The thought of something playing today also playing 1,000 years from now if Earth isn’t a nuclear wasteland gives me that weird feeling in my brain when I can’t really understand something. Sometimes I will try to think of what happens after we die if there is an afterlife and how everything just keeps going and going and going on forever with no end and it sends me into a complete mindfuck that I kinda like. And being able to understand the “art” that is the song “Africa” playing in Africa is something a man like myself who clearly has limited brainpower can understand.
However, I am scared of the road we are heading down with this classic song. We had Weezer and Pitbull release their own versions over the last year and I feel like the internet has really started to overexposed it to the point where I think about changing the song if Africa comes on my phone or radio. Not saying I do it, but it’s gotten to the point where I will consider changing it. With all this internet hype surrounding a song that’s almost 40 years old, it’s only a matter of time before ad execs pick up on the trend and we are going to end up with “Africa” playing during commercials of every March Madness, NBA playoffs, and baseball game, leading to a once beautiful song flaming out like a star. The internet giveth and the internet taketh away. I also usually have a stance of hating anything that can be considered art because so many art people are weirdos and I don’t understand/like the freaky ass art world. But then I imagine some sorry son of a bitch ending up stranded in the Namib desert near those speakers and not having any idea why he is being haunted by the sweet melodies of Toto for days on end because I imagine sound travels pretty well in the desert and I laugh my ass off. Then I saw this artist’s other work and my eyes roll through the back of my head.
h/t upm