Toto's Africa In Irish: TG Lurgan's Gaeltacht Cover

This is Toto’s “Africa” sung in Irish by the Course C choir at Coláiste Lurgan, the Connemara summer college behind TG Lurgan. It went up on YouTube in September 2016 and has passed 1.2 million views. Below is the story of the cover, the 1983 hit it came from, and the college that made it.

TG Lurgan is the YouTube channel of Coláiste Lurgan, the Irish summer college behind covers like Adele’s “Hello” and Avicii’s “Wake Me Up”. This is their Africa in Irish.

Toto’s 80s hit sounds better than ever in Irish.

Well done once again guys.

Here’s the video. Headphones help with the harmonies.

A quick note if you searched for the word itself. Africa in Irish is an Afraic. This page is about the song.

Africa as Gaeilge: the story of the cover

TG Lurgan posted “‘Africa’ le Toto as Gaeilge” on their YouTube channel on 30 September 2016, Irish time.

The video description credits the choir of Course C, one of the college’s summer courses. No individual singers are named, so I won’t guess.

The description jokes, in Irish, that there was a rainbow and rain showers inside the tent. It adds that the choir had great fun making it. You can tell.

At the time of writing it has over 1.2 million views on TG Lurgan’s channel. The description says the track is also on Spotify.

What the Irish version is like

It’s a loose translation rather than a word-for-word one. The Irish follows Toto’s verses closely, but small details shift to suit the language. The plane lands at a different hour, for one.

From what I can make out, the Irish words follow the same night journey as Toto’s, with moonlight and an old man’s advice. Like the original, the second verse keeps its famous place names.

Then there’s the weather. A choir of a few hundred students builds a rainstorm with finger clicks, rubbed hands, claps and thigh slaps, which is very fitting for Connemara. Rainbow umbrellas hang over the stage, and there are djembe drums too.

Toto never had to make their own rain.

If you want to sing along, the Irish words are in the video’s YouTube description. I’ve left them off this page because they belong to the songwriters.

Toto’s original “Africa”

“Africa” was written by David Paich and Jeff Porcaro of Toto. It’s on the band’s 1982 album Toto IV.

It reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the week of 5 February 1983. It knocked “Down Under” by Men at Work off the top for just that one week. Then “Down Under” went straight back to No. 1.

That one week is still Toto’s only Hot 100 No. 1, Billboard says. Toto IV also won Album of the Year at the 1983 Grammys.

In the UK, the Official Charts Company lists a peak of No. 3 in February 1983.

How “Africa” came back: Stranger Things and Weezer

Most 80s hits fade into wedding playlists. “Africa” got a second life online.

Billboard reported that a teenage Weezer fan heard the song on Netflix’s Stranger Things. An online campaign followed to get Weezer to cover it.

Weezer teased everyone first by covering a different Toto song, “Rosanna”. Then, at the end of May 2018, they released “Africa”.

It reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Alternative Songs chart in August 2018. That was their first No. 1 there since “Pork and Beans” in 2008.

It also climbed to No. 51 on the Hot 100. The official video, starring “Weird Al” Yankovic, followed in September 2018.

Toto answered with a cover of Weezer’s “Hash Pipe”. In 2025, Toto’s Steve Lukather questioned Weezer’s motives in an interview with Matt Pinfield. Even so, he said, “It was good for them, it was good for us.” Billboard reported the interview.

Toto’s own video passed one billion YouTube views in 2024, Billboard reported.

Who are TG Lurgan?

Coláiste Lurgan describes itself as an independent Irish-language summer school.

It’s in Indreabhán (Inverin), in the Connemara Gaeltacht in Co. Galway. A Gaeltacht is an area where Irish is still the community language.

Pól Ó Foighil founded it in the late 1960s, according to the Irish Times. His son, Mícheál Ó Foighil, has managed it since 1996.

How the videos started

The Irish Times reported in 2013 that the videos began in “a very rainy summer in 2009”, to beat the cabin fever. Almost everyone in them is a student or staff member, with a few local professionals lending a hand.

Mícheál told the paper, “It started off as a bit of fun, and it’s still a bit of fun.” He also said students do everything through Irish without even noticing.

RTÉ says the videos are made on a voluntary basis. By 2020 they had over 43 million views. At the time of writing, in October 2026, the channel shows about 56 million views and 128,000 subscribers.

Their best-known video is “Lig Mé Saor”, their take on “Wake Me Up”. RTÉ called it one of their biggest hits in 2023, with over 8.5 million views.

Life at the college

In a normal summer, RTÉ says, the college has about 500 students and 100 staff.

The college says most courses run for three weeks, with students living with local families. There are about 11 students to a house. It lists a 21-night course at €1,290 for 2027. Check lurgan.biz for dates.

Irish colleges and the Gaeltacht summer

Lurgan is part of a much older tradition. The Irish Times says the Irish college system dates back about 120 years, which makes it older than the State.

Students lodge with a bean an tí, the woman of the house, and live their days through Irish.

It’s still popular. Department of Education figures quoted by the Irish Times show 22,753 students attended in 2024, up from 18,332 in 2022.

Plenty of Irish adults abroad will remember their own Gaeltacht summer. Few of them had a recording studio.

Africa in Irish: FAQ

Who sings Africa in Irish?

The choir of Course C at Coláiste Lurgan, the college behind TG Lurgan.

Where can I find the Irish lyrics to TG Lurgan’s Africa?

TG Lurgan posts them in the YouTube description under the video. For Toto’s English original, use a licensed lyrics service such as the ones built into Spotify or Apple Music.

When did TG Lurgan release Africa as Gaeilge?

It went up on YouTube on 30 September 2016, Irish time.

Who can go to Coláiste Lurgan?

It runs summer courses for teenagers learning Irish, with students staying in local homes. Check lurgan.biz for current dates, prices and who can apply.

When was Toto’s Africa a hit, and why is it popular again?

It topped the US Billboard Hot 100 in February 1983. It came back after Stranger Things and a fan campaign led to Weezer’s 2018 cover.

Toto’s Africa in Irish: The TG Lurgan Cover and the Story Behind It