Someone has spent three months recreating Toto's Africa in Minecraft and we salute them

Screengrab of Minecraft video — (Image credit: The Stacinator)

Toto's 1982 classic Africa has been the subject of more unlikely musical projects than almost any other song. There's the man who performed it using a sweet potato and a butternut squash. There's the sound installation which plays the song on an endless loop deep in the Namib Desert. And now it's been recreated in Minecraft.

This latest jolt of unexpected creativity comes from Stacey S, a.k.a. The Stacinator, a Minecraft user who specialises in making note block songs on the popular gaming platform (blocks are the basic building units in the game, while note blocks emit a noise when struck).

The project took The Stacinator three months to complete, with the note block melody accompanied by a pixel animation. "It's the first note block song I've made that used every single fricking note block sound in the game!" she reports.

Responding on Reddit to a fellow note block builder baffled by her mad skills, The Stacinator was happy to offer some advice.

"Honestly I started at the same place and little parts of concepts just eventually started clicking after tons of practice and failing," she said. "This project for me was a culmination of a bunch of different ideas that I at one point thought were all beyond my capabilities so I'm really proud of what I've learned. I really encourage you to keep at it! You may surprise yourself with what you can do, I know I did."

Other note block projects completed by The Stacinator include versions of Slipknot's Snuff, the Red Hot Chili Peppers' Snow (Hey Oh) and Beast And The Harlot by Avenged Sevenfold.

Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014. 40 years in music industry, online for 27. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.