Le mélomane

A young man in a checked shirt crouches on the chequered floor of the Volta Photo studio in Bobo-Dioulasso, one hand resting on the open lid of a portable record player, a vinyl on the turntable. His eyes settle on the music rather than the lens. Sanlé Sory, house photographer of the Volta Jazz orchestra and of the open-air dances he staged at night, lent his sitters the studio props: this music lover chose the record player, and the Rolleiflex caught him in a square 6×6 frame, never cropped.

This black and white print comes in a numbered limited edition of six, this copy being 1/6: a digigraphie on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Baryta 315 g paper, supplied in a museum frame with museum glass. A cornerstone of African photography, Sanlé Sory's work is held by MoMA, the Art Institute of Chicago, the V&A and LACMA. See it in Generation Volta at Sakana Gallery, Donostia, until 1 October 2026.

Print details

• Edition : 1/6
• Image : 44 × 44 cm
• Paper : 50 × 65 cm
• Technique : Digigraphie print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Baryta 315 g paper
• Framing : Museum framing, museum glass

The record player in this image ties the work to what sets Sanlé Sory apart in the history of African photography: he worked not in a capital but in Bobo-Dioulasso, a city of music. Photographer of the Volta Jazz orchestra and of the open-air dances he staged at night, he let the 45 rpm era enter studio photography itself. His portrait of a crouching music lover becomes the tender record of a West African youth that, after independence, chose a soundtrack as much as a look.

All works by Sanlé Sory · Exhibition catalogue (PDF)