For one of the deepest and most profound
"musical" experiences I dare you to have, station yourself on a park
bench about sunset on some evening in the Old City of Istanbul midway between
Santa Sofia and the Sultan Ahmet (so-called Blue) Mosque and listen, with goose
bumps on your goose bumps, as the competing muezzins from each mosque belt out
their respective evening calls to the faithful to pray. These guys have a
dynamic volume and a range over about three and a half octaves (or so it seems
as one sits transfixed) that is unmatched at the Met or likely any Christian
choir. One of them calls and then the other answers, and the dialogue
must go on like a roller coaster ride for ten minutes. Think LeBron James
dribbling and backing into the basket against Karl Malone.
I'm not a big supporter of Islam, but we could
use a few calls to regard the Almighty in this society like the vocal
arabesques of these Turk muezzins.
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