Squared Out (Tirana mosque)

Part of the Sacred Spaces project - find out more at http://www.citiesandmemory.com/sacredspaces

Tirana mosque reimagined by Radio Hummingbird.

"admittedly, i had a few quite different tracks on my wish list before breaking it down to my two favourite choices with both tracks in my final selection being hugely different to one another. one featuring very quiet and subtle sounds within a natural environment whereas my final choice features an urban environment with a rather outward call to prayer. an important factor for my interest in a piece has not only been its actual sound but the sound in context with its location. i have never been to albania but the images of this country which appeared in my imagination are rather intriguing. a place as familiar as inconceivable. specious and overwhelming. a challenge of extraordinary beauty (like so many other places on this planet). i am not a great believer in anything other than spirituality and mutual respect. however, at a time in which most connotations of islamic practice are being feared and treated with deep suspicion i felt it is important to focus on the actual beauty each and every culture is able to create since the beginning of time. deeply musical chants being released as wavering melodies constantly filling space and perception. melodic and spherical. unique. it is time to immerse ourselves in the diversity of this world again instead of erecting cultural walls and national boundaries. this used to be practice of the past. and it would be better for all of us if it would stay this way...... apart from using and modifying the source track in a variety of ways, i also included a variety of my own field recordings from different locations of this planet as well as using a modular synthesizer to emanate the principal melodies to create additional soundscapes influenced by the source. this is intended to capture my sonic imagination of a simple walk down the road somewhere in tirana at a random day whilst just being immersed in my own thoughts. nothing else."