A conversation with the Moazin of the Givat Aliya Mosque, Ramadan 2020
The conversation formed between the casual listener and the muslim call-to-prayr, is well known in the daily Israeli reality. During the month of Ramadan, the daily prayer is different to the rest of the year, with added sections meant to amplify the feeling of religious conviction. During the month of Ramadan, in the muslim society, there is much more rigor on good deeds. The followers and believers read more in the holy Quran in prayer, emphasizing the importance of morals between people. Throughout the month, there is special attention to people with mental illnesses: in the past well-voiced anchor men were invited to read for the aforementioned phrases from the book. Until today, followers pray in certain mosques at dawn-break, to relieve the insomnia of believers, in an attempt to lower their suffering, as well as adding to their spiritual exuberance. The rules, as well as the fasting, express the overcoming of bodily needs and empathy towards people weaker spiritually.
The main motif of the piece is blurring the transition between borderline points of prayer as an environmental object, to a musical object. As the piece plays out, according to the amplitude of the prayer, the differentiation between the Moazin singing the prayer, and its subjective disposition as a sound object, fluctuates in the subjective carrier of musical emotion, and meaning. This musical conversation does not take a stand, nor does it present the listener an opinion. Rather, the use of hyper-realism is amplified, giving way to a transcendental experience which strengthens the perception of environmental sound as musical.
This work was presented as part of the group exhibition “A Time to Keep Silence”, at SEDEK gallery, Jerusalem, Israel, as well as during the SONIC MATTER Listening-Lounge, Kunstraum Walcheturm, Switzerland
