Cosmic Breath

Cosmic Breath is a sound installation by artist Joe Namy composed of recordings of the adhan—the Islamic call to prayer. The work is reimagined for Ibraaz’s Musalla, a space dedicated to spiritual practice as both lived experience and creative expression.  

It brings together historical and contemporary calls from different geographies, amplified through horn speakers synonymous with those perched on the minarets of mosques. Played simultaneously, each speaker softly emits a different adhan recording, inviting the audience to lean in and listen closely. At prayer times throughout the day, the volume increases to become clearly audible in the room, creating a congregation of calls to prayer. 

The voices span more than a century and include what is considered the first recording of the adhan at the Haram Mosque in Makkah in the late 1800s. Contemporary contributions include calls from the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and the Sultan Mosque in Singapore, which is thought to be the first mosque to use loudspeakers in the 1930s. Recordings have also been collected from Kaga, Japan; Tbilisi, Georgia; Durban, South Africa; Hamtramck, Michigan; and beyond. 

The work was originally commissioned for the Islamic Arts Biennale in Jeddah (2023) artistically directed by Sumayya Vally. For this iteration at Ibraaz, the installation features a recording of the first public call to prayer performed by the Walthamstow Forest Islamic Association in London during the COVID lockdown in 2020. At a time when gathering was not possible, the sound of the adhan offered a sonic expression of shared experience and community. 

Through Cosmic Breath, the constancy of the adhan across place and time is evoked as a unifying spiritual and sonic practice. Designed to be listened to both individually and simultaneously, the work also reveals the multitude of voices included. Each carries a unique character shaped by acoustic environments, sonic traditions, and local histories. The work is part of Namy's wider study on sound systems, community, and spirituality.