Open the gates of Heaven, raise the gates of the sky!

"The hot haze of the Egyptian air is thick, almost opaque with heat - on hot days like these, it seems as if even sound waves are struggling to make their way through the air without wilting. Battling through the heat, the traffic noise, the sounds of markets, streets and city life, the muezzin’s call is a beautiful thing to hear, but on some days you have to strain to make it out.

"This composition is about picking out the call to prayer through waves of hot, arid air as it drifts across the late afternoon sky."

The title comes from an ancient Egyptian hymn to the sun:

OPEN the gates of Heaven, raise the gates of the sky! Open
the gates of the sky, raise the gates of Heaven for the Horns
of the gods, when he comes forth at break of day, purified in the Field of Reeds.

OPEN the gates of Heaven, raise the gates of the sky! Open
the gates of the sky, raise the gates of Heaven for the Horus of
the East, when he comes forth at break of day, purified in the Field of Reeds.

OPEN the gates of Heaven, raise the gates of the sky! Open
the gates of the sky, raise the gates of Heaven for Osiris, when
he comes forth at break of day, purified in the Field of Reeds.

OPEN the gates of Heaven, raise the gates of the sky! Open
the gates of the sky, raise the gates of Heaven for the King, when
he comes forth at break of day, purified in the Field of Reeds.

Call to prayer in Alexandria reimagined by Cities and Memory.