Sounds of the City

Sound clashes are common in Accra.  If you walk far enough, sometimes not very far at all, you can pass two restaurants next door to one another both blasting hip hop or dance music out of big PAs at full volume, heavily distorted, with the two electronic beats coming in and out of phase with one another.  The sound can be a little disorienting if you're standing out on the street, but inside one of these small cafes the sound overwhelms the neighboring establishment's PA.  I made this recording from my balcony a little after midnight one Friday night.  You can hear a bar's sound system playing pop music and a late night service from a nearby church.  Just before I managed to get the tape rolling,  a preacher preaching out of a different church's PA was also competing with these sounds.