NAMIB DESERT — What’s the longest a song has ever gotten stuck in your head? An hour? A day? How about infinity?
Thanks to Namibian-German artist Max Siedentopf, one particular song will play on endless loop “for all eternity” in the Namib desert, the oldest desert in all of Africa.
Which song, you ask? None other than Toto’s classic 1980s hit, ‘Africa’, of course.
The sound installation consists of six speakers attached to an MP3 player that plays ‘Africa’ – and only ‘Africa’ – on constant loop. The entire installation runs on solar batteries, and with no shortage of sunlight in the dessert, we can all rest assured that Toto will live on forever.
In an interview with the BBC, Siedentopf said that he “wanted to pay the song the ultimate homage and physically exhibit ‘Africa’ in Africa.”
“Some [Namibians] love it and some say it’s probably the worst sound installation ever,” he said. “I think that’s a great compliment.”