It seems only fitting that I should be coming back to this during Ramadan. I wrote it while living in Cairo, and the whole song is centered around my impression of the Adhan. I was walking down a local street near my apartment one day, and there was one mu'azzin giving the call to prayer at that moment that totally struck me. He would take one note and just SIT there, only moving up a half-tone every now and then for ornamentation as he finished his phrases. The sheer beauty and simplicity of two adjacent notes captured me, and I got home determined to somehow get it out there in my own music. Thus this sound-collage, "Azan," was born. In it, I tried to recreate some of the characteristics of the Adhan in Cairo that stand out most to me: the intermittent flow between relative quiet and sudden sonic upheaval; the cacophonous joy of a hundred voices lifted, each independent of the other yet all directed towards the same object and purpose; the simple structure, decorated by vocal embellishment; the unexpected magic that can come out of notes that don't (at first glance for a Western ear) go together.
This is a recent incarnation---I have added vocal tracks and made it murkier (which I'm okay with, this is also a characteristic of the Adhan in big cities). I also made the syth tracks a little less discordant. At first, it really did sound like the "Jaws" theme, or something out of a cheesy zombie movie. Back to nice happy major chords. I'm really curious to hear what people like and dislike in this song; it's not the most conventional piece, but it is really simple, perhaps to the point of boredom.
Azan by brotherwren
It is time
Azan
Silence breaks
Shatters in sound
Carry me
Azan
Above streets
Pull me down
It is time
Azan
Day is long
Give me pause
Sleep by me
Azan
Night is come
Announce dawn
It is time
Azan
Heavy sky
Cast off by voice
It is time
Azan
Nothing
Changes
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