For so long, a major criticism of the Afrobeats genre is that artistes were merely recording artistes, who did not put work into their stagecraft. All that fans got at shows were lip-syncing sessions, coupled with energetic jumping, and a baptism of water (depending on who was performing).
This lack of stagecraft made fans turn to artistes from alternative genres such as Highlife, RnB, Folk, and even Alte when looking to enjoy live performances.
However, with mainstream Afrobeats going global in recent years, the need to revitalise live performance in popular music was pressing, and Glitch Africa has stepped up to the task. Established in 2021, Glitch Africa has revitalized live performances in African Music pushing artistes to the limits of their creativity.
“The idea for Glitch Africa came from the need to create a platform where emerging African artists can be discovered showcasing them through live music performances,” says Amakhian Best, Cofounder, of Glitch Africa when speaking on the origin of the platform.
With the emergence of community-esque brands like Glitch Africa, entertainers have a new platform to express untold stories and experiences through sound and visuals.
“The mission is to present Africa as an incubator for quality entertainment, making us trendsetters in the world of entertainment,” the brand’s mission statement reads.
True to his words, a Glitch Africa Live Performance has become a sort of rite of passage for every breakout African star. In the past two years, artistes such as Asake, Camidoh, Ruger, Pheelz, Libianca, Gyakie, BNXN, Lojay, Victony, and Black Sherif have.
In the months following their Glitch Africa sessions, all of these artistes have gone on to gain global recognition.
Glitch Africa’s initiative is pushing the next generation of Afrobeats stars to the best of their ability, by providing them with the tools to perform acoustic and stripped versions of their best songs. This has helped to establish them as performing artistes that can hold on their own on the world’s biggest stages and arenas.
For the audience, they get to enjoy music from their favorite stars in its purest form, complete with the emotions and inflections that their songs were made with. It is, therefore, no surprise, that most artistes that performed on the Glitch Africa platform, have gained new fans from their sessions. A prime example of this is the biggest Afrobeats breakout star of 2022 Asake, whose soulful rendition of his single “Baba God” off his debut EP “Ololade Asake” went viral on TikTok and Twitter.
While the focus of Glitch Africa has been on emerging stars, they have also shone its spotlight on some global African stars.
From Rema’s magnificent rendition of Divine to Joeboy’s amazing performance of Contour, and Stonebwoy’s soulful performance of Therapy, The platform has positioned itself as Africa’s number-one music performance platform in a short while.
In staying true to the brand name, Glitch Africa has spread its wings from its main base of Lagos, Nigeria to other parts of Africa. This move started with the establishment of Glitch Africa studio in Ghana in 2022. Ghanaian artistes that have been hosted on the Platform include Gyakie, King Promise, KiDi, Kelvyn Boy, and more.
Glitch Africa kicked off 2023 with expansion to South Africa setting up a Johannesburg studio.
Famed for their innovation, The Glitch gospel platform was set up to spotlight talented gospel artists,
Under Glitch Africa’s wings is also, The Glitch Africa Studios, a podcast network set up in 2021, Home to Charting topping podcast The Honest Bunch among others.
Glitch Africa’s podcasts have set a standard for everyday podcasts. In this time and day, no one engages with what they can’t relate to, podcasts on Glitch Africa turn everyday challenges into spicy topics for discussion.
