Fanspot
Kilimanjaro
“I’m the guy who said I’d run naked down Hollywood Boulevard if this thing is a hit. Not because of the groove or the track. But because of the f*cking lyrics!”
Toto guitarist Steve Lukather in an interview with Billboard magazine (February 2018)
We are in 1981. Toto is preparing to release his fourth album. It constitutes the last chance of the group, under the threat of its label after the commercial failure of Turn Back. As Steve Lukather, Bobby Kimball, David Hungate, Jeff Porcaro, Steve Porcaro and David Paich worked hard on Toto IV‘s songs, Toto felt inspired. On his brand new synthesizer, he composed the first notes ofAfrica and found the phrase “I bless the rain down in Africa”. And also “As sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti“.
When Stranger Things places her in an episode, the new generation discovers her. A 14-year-old teenager asks on Twitter for the band Weezer to cover the song heard in the show. What was a joke goes viral and everyone asks for the cover. When it was finally released, a new audience rediscovered Toto’s iconic hit. And the web goes crazy. More than 670 million views of the original clip on YouTube, 19 million for the Weezer clip, nearly 1 billion listens on the Spotify platform for Toto’s version… Numbers exceeding the altitude of the famous mountain cited by the band.
In Africa, the success is also there. German-Namibian artist Max Siedentopf even made a pretty crazy work in 2019, consisting of a solar device connected to six speakers and an mp3 player. His system should play Africa, according to his estimates, for 55 million years, the age of the Namibian desert in which the installation was laid.
Cult! music: 100 mythical music places [French Edition]
Want to know more about this place and its connection to Toto? Find the whole story and 99 others in the book Cult! music!
The album Toto IV from whichAfrica won 6 Grammy Awards after 28 nominations in28 nominations in 1983.
Mount Kilimanjaro
The Mount Kilimanjaro is the highest peak in Africa and the fourth highest mountain in the world at 5,895 meters.
Since the very first expedition of Yohanas Kinyala Lauwo, Hans Meyer and Ludwig Purtscheller in 1889, hikers have been flocking to the African giant. Composed of three volcanoes, Kilimanjaro is also known for its ice cap.
Due to global warming, it is likely to disappear by 2050. Many endangered species live in this rock formation, which is also disturbed by the influx of tourists and is a victim of the consequences of human activity on the climate.
The Fantrippers Buying Board
IV - Toto - Vinyl
Complete your vinyl collection with Toto’s IV album. Including the track Africa…
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Discover all the places Africa on our map
By Damien Duarte
Passionné par la culture pop depuis son enfance, ses références vont de Donald Duck à Batman en passant par Marty McFly. Fantripper dans l'âme, voyager sur les traces de Ghostbusters, James Bond ou des héros de romans comme Cotton Malone fait partie d'un séjour idéal et réussi !