Azan: Call to prayer

Jakarta City Central

     In her book Women, the Recited Qur'an, and Islamic Music in Indonesia, Anne Rasmussen discusses the soundscape of major Indonesian cities such as Jakarta. She mentions that she learned about the world through it's noises: the honking and clanging of traffic, motors of delivery motorcycles, vendors, idophones, radio, televisions, etc. She describes how the architecture is open and the walls are porous "rendering the outside world ever-present in the domestic sphere" (38). In some sects of the Indonesian culture it is believed that silence leaves you vulnerable to the spirit world. Therefore to ward of the evil spirits the city is covered in light and overlapping sound. Shops in southeast shopping malls would point their speakers into the hallway to entice people to come into their store. This leads to the generation of competitive music. When Rasmussen was in Central Java her host would loudly broadcast the radio all night so that the even the neighbors could enjoy the broadcasting. In Western Java the Mosque around where she stayed broadcast its activity until midnight and then started again at 4 in the morning (45). To put is simply, there is always significant noise to be heard in the Indonesian soundscape.

One of the most distinctive contributions to the soudscape of a predominately Muslim country is the Azan, or the call to prayer. The azan is sung by a muezzin, an appointed reciter for the call to prayer, five times a day summoning Muslims to mandatory prayer. It used to be sung by the muezzin from the top of the mosque, now it is projected loudly from speakers mounted to the mosque walls. "Amplification both frames the events of everyday life and expands the range of community for those events" (46). In the United states a significant amount of noise has been contained, even legislated, but "imagine the cumulative power of this Islamic performance, broadcast collectively by and for the community throughout the day and night" (48). Large cities around the world that are predominately Muslim have more than one mosque and will therefore have several versions of the azan sounding at the same time. In the Western world it might seem to be a terrible cacophony, whereas those in the Islamic world might find solace and reverence in these songs proclaiming God's goodness and hastening people to prayer. These songs are so pervasive and so numerous it is impossible to hide from or miss the call. The videos bellow demonstrate this amazing experience. I can only imagine what it would be like to stand on one of those rooftops and listen.