The key facts

  • Joe Namy's Cosmic Breath installation opened at the Musalla space of the Ibraaz project in central London
  • It includes adhan recordings spanning more than a century: from the first recording in Mecca in the late 19th century to the 2020 adhan in Walthamstow
  • The idea grew out of an interfaith car convoy protesting the adhan ban in Durban in 2020

A sound 'sanctuary' near Oxford Street

American artist of Lebanese origin Joe Namy, who works with sound and its impact on the urban environment, has brought the multichannel sound installation Cosmic Breath to London. It is presented at the Musalla space of the Ibraaz project, dedicated to spiritual practice as lived experience and creative expression, not far from Oxford Street. The installation consists of recordings of the adhan — the Islamic call to prayer — from different countries and eras, played through horn speakers similar to those installed on minarets. Each speaker quietly broadcasts its recording, and during prayer hours the volume rises, making the calls audible throughout the hall.

From Jeddah to London

The work was first commissioned for the Islamic Arts Biennale in Jeddah in 2023 by artistic director and architect Sumayya Vally, who also developed the spatial scenography of the installation. Namy notes that the London showing changes the meaning of the work: in his words, in the city's current political climate Islamophobia, xenophobia and prejudice are intensifying. He considers showing it in central London 'a stronger gesture' — a space where people can come and relax — and notes the rare openness to the theme of spirituality in contemporary art.

A local recording from Walthamstow

The London version of the installation uses a local recording — one of the first public adhans in London, sounded in the Walthamstow area during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The recording captures the call performed by the Waltham Forest Islamic Association, when, because of social distancing, the community was looking for a way to feel unity.

Recordings spanning more than a century

The audio selection spans more than a hundred years and different acoustic traditions. Among the archival materials is what is considered the first recording of the adhan at the Grand Mosque of Mecca from the late 19th century, an archival recording from the 1950s from the Philippines, recordings from the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and the Sultan Mosque in Singapore, which is believed to have been the first to use loudspeakers in the 1930s. There are also recordings from Tbilisi, a Sahrawi refugee camp in Algeria (without amplification, voice only), a personal recording from Japan where a person recites the adhan for themselves in a forest, and a recording from Khartoum in a distinctive Sudanese style. An attempt to record the first mosque in South America in Brazil yielded no adhan — the building is used only on special occasions, and ultimately the recording of the empty space, like field recordings from the coast of Egypt, was not included in the installation.

Origins: a protest in Durban

The impetus for the project was an episode in 2020 in Durban, South Africa: amid rising social tension, Islamophobia and xenophobia during lockdown, a local ban was imposed there on the public broadcast of the adhan. The protest was organised by a member of the Hindu community in solidarity with Muslims. Due to restrictions on gatherings, participants staged a car convoy, tuning the radios of hundreds of cars to a radio channel broadcasting the adhan. According to Namy, it was this recording that formed the basis of the concept for Cosmic Breath; the idea was suggested to him by Sumayya Vally, who shared a link to the event.