[Large group of people gathered around some men with musical instruments, Mombasa, Kenya]

Share

Mombasa's crowd is the defining feature here: a large gathering presses in around a small group of men holding musical instruments, with the musicians clearly the center of attention. The photograph was taken by Coutinho and Sons, a studio in Mombasa, and it is part of the Frank and Frances Carpenter Collection, assembled by the American writer and photographer Frank Carpenter and his wife Frances, who traveled widely and documented daily life across the world in the early twentieth century. Dating from between 1900 and 1925, the image captures a period when the coastal port city was a busy meeting point of African, Arab, Indian, and European communities. Notice how the onlookers fill the frame, offering a glimpse of public music-making as a shared social event.

More from the Historic Print Archive collection

Snapshots of the Past helps heritage brands, museums, historians and storytellers tell stories with history: historic prints, image licensing and historical storytelling drawn from more than 25 years of research and curation.