Call to prayers from the sea

12/11/2025 5 min
Call to prayers from the sea

Listen "Call to prayers from the sea"

Episode Synopsis

"The sound of calling to prayers from mosques is featured in the original field recording; it's a very vague and distant call accompanied by street sound and people chatter, but it's still breathtaking. It's even more fascinating that the exact timings of this chant vary daily based on astronomical calculations. I've never been to Turkey and not religious either, but I am still deeply drawn to the epic like spectacle that the chant can create in a simple recording. 

"My composition is based on the call and it's a re-imagination of how this chant works its power to connect all beings, locations, landscapes and senses in a wider field. To echo this, and reflect on Istanbul's geographic position connecting two continents and two seas, I have merged elements of mosque soundscape, Turkish Saz, drone, and ship horns from the sea in the composition. It's the music that is born from the location and departs from the location."

Call to prayer in Istanbul reimagined by Shan Lyu.