LOVED AND LOST: Costa Titch (1995 – 2023)

South Africans and music lovers from all over the continent are mourning the death of one of its most promising performers.

Costa Titch was born Costa Tsobanoglou on the 26 January 1995 to a Greek father and a South African mother in Nelspruit, Mpumalanga.

He started his career as a rapper and later as a dancer before he leveraged social media, especially TikTok, to further his career.

He took his career up a notch by sharing his groundbreaking debut single in 2017 titled “Activate” featuring Phantom Steeze and Alfakatlaygo.

His use of IsiZulu lines in prominent singles like “Nkalakatha”, “Activate”, “Big Flexa” and “Thembimade” added to his sonic template.

Before his death, Costa Titch signed a partnership deal with Akon’s record label Konvict Kulture. Akon joined him on the remix of his amapiano track “Big Flexa” featuring The Alfa Kat and Ma Gang.

In an interview with 1Xtra presenter Jeremiah Asiamah, Costa said, “As much as the original’s done well, there’s still a lot of places across the globe that haven’t heard about the record yet.”

His deal with Akon and the subsequent remix was about to take Costa’s sound to the global music scene, but death had other plans.

Costa Titch died on Sunday during a performance at the Ultra Music Festival in Johannesburg.

Fans are still reeling, having had to say goodbye to Costa Titch, AKA and Riky Rick, all within one year. Their voices might be quiet, but their music plays on.

Pictured above: Costa Titch