The pop song called ‘Africa was originally released in 1982 by the band ‘Toto’. It was written by Keyboardist David Paich and drummer Jeff Porcaro and despite the songs title, the writers had never actually visited Africa. The song has been voted as the greatest song of all time but never actually made it to number one. It came close though, peaking at number 3 in the official top charts.
The meaning behind the song seems to be the driving factor of its popularity as well as the layered harmonies, driving drum loops and the extremely catchy chorus. The band name ‘Toto’ means “all together or without exception”. The meaning behind the song is of course open to interpretation, however Paich explained that the song is about a mans love of a continent and according to him the lyrics were based on a late night documentary that featured depiction of African suffering. After not being able to remove the vivid images from his mind, he imagined that he was there and started to write the lyrics. Below is a number and letter notation so that you can play this classic on the kalimba and feel free to use any notation that you prefer.
NOTES & NUMBERS
(64) (64) (64) (64) (64) (53) (1° 6)
(AF) (AF) (AF) (AF) (AF) (GE) (C° A)
(64) (64) (64) (64) (64) (53) (1° 6)
(AF) (AF) (AF) (AF) (AF) (GE) (C° A)
(64) (64) (64) (64) (64) (53) (1° 6)
(AF) (AF) (AF) (AF) (AF) (GE) (C° A)
5 5 5 5 5 6 7 1°
G G G G G A B C°
3 3 4 5 5 4 4 3 2
E E F G G F F E D
2 1 3 - 2 1 2
D C E - D C D
5 5 5 5 5 5 - 6 7 1°
G G G G G G - A B C°
3 3 4 5 - 5 4 4 3 2 - 2 1 3
E E F G - G F F E D - D C E
2 2 1 2
D D C D
5 5 5 5 5 6 7 1°
G G G G G A B C°
3 3 3 4 5 5
E E E F G G
4 4 3 2 - 2 1 3 - 2 1 2
F F E D - D C E - D C D
5 5 5 - 5 5 6 - 7 1° - 1° 1° 2°
G G G - G G A - B C° - C° C° D°
