African Metropolitan Music

Over the past decade, the celebrated architect David Adjaye has visited every African country, photographing the architecture of a full 53 cities. The results are published in a seven-volume book entitled Adjaye Africa Architecture to which African Metropolitan Music, compiled by Adjaye’s brother Peter, is a companion piece.

Ordered by geographical landscape rather than by man-made borders (with sections such as ‘Savannah & Grassland’ and ‘Mountain & Highveld’), this compilation draws from across the continent, each song apparently reflecting the surroundings from which it’s drawn. The back catalogues of plenty of big-hitters have been revisited (Orchestra Baobab, Aster Aweke, Miriam Makeba, Emmanuel Jal and Abdel Gadir Salim) and a few songs – like Khaled/Safy Boutella’s ‘Chebba’ – are pretty well-known. But there’s also plenty to snag the ear of even those with the plumpest collections of African records. The circular riffs that back up Mali’s Kandia Kouyaté are as engrossing as her spirited proclamations, while the chiming guitars of Nairobi’s Shirati Jazz sprint along at a relentless pace. Peter Adjaye’s musical taste is pretty impeccable; the only problem is there isn’t enough of it. As it’s accompanying the been-everywhere photography book, wouldn’t it have been obvious to have paid musical visits to a few more cities? We only drop in on a dozen. Perhaps I’m being greedy. After all, how could a compilation that includes Franco and Sam Mangwana’s 12-minute epic ‘Cooperation’ not satiate anyone’s hunger?