He turned to me as if to say, “Hurry boy, it’s waiting there for you.”
By now, we have all heard the hit song ‘Africa’ by Toto. It’s one of those legendary songs that has permeated our collective consciousnesses. You don’t remember hearing it for the first time, but you know all of the words.
The 1982 classic is now forever immortalized in the Namib Desert in Africa. It’s all thanks to a sound installation by German-Namibian artist Max Siedentopf.
Sledentopf set up six solar-powered speakers and an iPod. There is but one song playing on a loop. That is, of course, ‘Africa’ by Toto. It is set to play for all of eternity, or more likely until the iPod stops working.
The Namibians are torn. According to Siedntopf, “Some [Namibians] love it and some say it’s probably the worst sound installation ever. I think that’s a great compliment.”
There’s no word yet as to what Toto thinks of the homage to their song, but they’ll surely acknowledge it at some point. Maybe they’ll even visit the spot in the desert and sing along. However, that may be asking a bit too much.
Siedentopf did release a “map” on his website with an approximation of where the installation is located. But it’s not terribly helpful.
So if you’re interested in experiencing this art for yourself, don’t worry. You have all eternity to find it. Or for as long as the iPod battery lasts.
