Africa , elements of music

Africa is a soft-rock love song (ft African music) by the rock band Toto. It was recorded in 1981 and then released in 1982. It’s written by David Paich and Jeff Porcaro

INSTRUMENTS

• drum kit

• additional percussion

• lead and bass guitars

• synthesizers

• male lead vocals + male backing vocals

TEMPO: Moderately fast

DYNAMICS: Mainly mezzo-forte (mf), but the chorus is forte (f)

TONALITY: B major, then it changes to A major for the chorus

HARMONY: Diatonic (no clashes)

MELODY + PITCH: Melody is mostly conjunct (stepwise motion) with occasional pentatonic scales. Pitch range is just less than 2 octaves

RHYTHM + METRE: Ostinato rhythms, nearly all quavers, constant syncopation

TEXTURE: Homophonic (Melody and Accompaniment)

ARTICULATION: Mainly syllabic (one note per syllable), with occasional use of melisma

STRUCTURE: Verse-chorus structure, there’s also link section (with riffs) and an instrumental section