Job Discussion Forums

[tarte tatin]

I agree that it can sound beautiful and of course it is part of the soundscape of the Islamic world. It depends on the quality of voice and loudspeakers, sometimes it is really discordant.

I had a muslim boyfriend in the UK who used to complain bitterly at the sound of church bells on Sunday. Human nature is the same the world over, there are always people who complain about the host culture...

[Sheikh Inal Ovar]

It's always nice to see the moralizers out for a stroll ...

I was particularly fortunate to spend several nights within touching distance of a small mosque whose minaret, an enormous inverted metallic cone, was of such disproportionate size that the main dome of the mosque was all but lost in the moonlight of a calm summer's night ...

I always found the effect of the ezan fascinating ... I remember every morning being cajoled into remembering my mortality as the call rang through my windows, my ears, through every bone in my body and on down through the valley ... this feeling was heightened to an almost mystical level by the deathlike sensation that would wash over my entire being as it once again dawned on my semi-conscious mind that it was 5 o'clock in the morning and I was awake ...

[Laura777]

[yaramaz]

The call to prayer from our local mosque is brilliant- the voice is really clear, melodic, and pretty powerful (but not loud, even though it is just across the narrow alley--right next to the church, whose bells are more intrusive). I look forward to the friday midday call because it sounds a lot like that really lovely Irish sean nos singing (the acapella stuff). In Kayseri, it got pretty overwhelming because there were so many mosques so close together and so loud but I accepted it as part of the local sounscape, like birds or jackhammers or churchbells.

[Baba Alex]

Apologies for my language. I got a bit over excited.

When I studied in Whitechappel, East London, the call to prayer was pretty loud. It doesn't bother me much to be honest, it's never woken me up, it takes a lot to penetrate my vodka fuelled slumbers mind.

I agree, certain things, such as the call to prayer, are part of the culture and not up to us to critise as they have a cultural relevance. The same with chruch bells on a Sunday morning which, despite my deeply anti-oraginsed-religious stance, I've always found quite pleasant.

*uses church bells on new song*

[billybuzz]

Generally when the call to prayar is made I'm in the middle of the lesson around midday,so I stop the lesson and listen ,the silence is something I cherish as the students out of respect just shut up for those short moments .

[runeman]

The court hearing was moved to the afternoon because of a power cut. When me and the lawyer returned to the courthouse there was a street dog lying stretched out on the pavement right in front of the entrance. Ironic. The hearing lasted about 40 minutes.

In my defense I said that the collages were not meant as a personal attack on the Prime Minister, but his position, and the fact that President Bush considers him a useful friend and ally. Turkish soil is home to American nuclear bombs at the US airbase at Diyarbakir.

I said that I was an artist and did not usually plan my collages but acted on inspiration at the time of making, often as a reaction to news of what is happening in the world, particularly Iraq.

When the judge asked me to describe what I was trying to say in the 2 pictures of Erdogan in the role of America's dog, I said that it was up to the viewer to make his own interpretation; an artist shouldn't need to explain in words.

I have been called to trial again on 8th October. In the meantime, the court will seek the opinions of some university professors on whether my collages are 'art' or insult.

I took this latest collage to show the judge, but he didn't want to look at it.

[runeman]