Africa

Producers

David Paich and Jeff Porcaro

Background

• Recorded by toto in 1981

• In album Toto IV

Dynamics

Most of the song is mezzo-forte whilst the choruses are forte

Metre

2/2

General instrumentation

Rock Band:

• drum kit with additional percussion

• lead and bass guitars

• synthesizers

• male lead vocals and male backing vocals.

Tempo

Moderately fast

Form and structure

Verse/Chorus form

Harmony

Diatonic throughout

Chorus chords

F#m, D, A, E
vi, iv, I, V

Verse chords

B
D#m

G#m
B/F#

A/E
E/F#

G#m
A
G#m and C#m

Africa texture

Homophonic

‘pre’ Intro information

• Percussion section that happens before intro

• Uses African inspired instruments like congas, cowbells, shaker, drums, jingle stick

• Layered rhythms (polyrhythms)

• Ostinato

• Syncopation

Intro important information

• B major

• Very syncopated riff

• Followed by a mini ostinato riff thing

Intro first riff info

• Very syncopated

• Played with a kalimba like synth

• Marimba like synth in bass

• Riff gets repeated at bar 8 and 9 of each phrase

Intro second ‘answering phrase’ riff thing

• Mini ostinato (5 notes repeating)

• Unusual pattern of 5 notes (syncopation)

• Pentatonic

• Harmony is 4ths apart - unusual for a pop song (African influence?)

Verse 1 important information

• Melisma at the end of each phrase on ‘conversations’, ‘salvation’ and ‘melodies’

• Lots of repeated notes

• All very syncopated

• Uneven phrasing - 3 + 5 + 1 (9) three times, and then one 8 bar phrase

• Lots of steps

• Change to Harmonic Rhythm on chord G#m/C#m

• In the lower part of singer’s voice until the end, when it goes into tenor range

• Tenor range in link to chorus makes the song more exciting

• Drum fill just before chorus

Chorus 1 info

• Switch to A major

• Chords change from verse (VI, IV, I, V)

• Simple pop chorus

• Very high

• Small range (Tonic (a) and leading tone (g#)

• Simple melody

• Becomes two part on ‘there’s nothing that’

• Drums have a prominent ride cymbal

• Becomes three part on ‘I bless the rains’

• Mostly sylabbic except from last line on ‘had’

Verse 2 info

Changes from first verse:

• More backing vocals including oohs

• Synth recorder sound (ascending scale - high)

• Notes change on ‘deep inside’

• 9 bars shorter (9+9+8)

Link 1 / 2

Same riff as intro

Instrumental part 1 info

• Flute synth

• Chords are similar to verse - this is kind of like verse 3

• Also similar to intro but more developed

• Pentatonic + harmonised in 4ths

• Descending phrase with repeated quavers + triplet at 69

• Notes are in groups of 3 - starts on lower pitch each time

Instrumental part 2 info

• Xylophone synth as well as flute synth

• More varied and complex rhythm than first part

• Harmonised in thirds

• Not pentatonic - notes from E maj

• More ascending and then descending

Instrumental part 3 info

• Similar to part 1 but ascending

• Syncopated grace notes

Chorus 3

• 20 bars Longer - ‘I bless the rains’ x 5

• Vocal improvisation part

Outro info

Same as intro but with extra bass glissando