SACRED ECHOES

摘要

Kani Karaca isn't used to working in these conditions, but he gives it his best shot. The 75-year-old singer, one of Turkey's best known, is accustomed to hearing his songs resonate around Istanbul's grand mosques. But today he's in a studio with sound-absorbing walls, and his voice sounds deadened and uninspiring. Karaca's not about to throw a tantrum, though. His recording could be the key to preserving some of Turkey's finest buildings. The singer is involved in a project to prevent the mosques of Mimar Sinan, the master builder of the Ottoman Empire, from losing their splendid acoustics. Sinan lived from 1489 to 1588 and designed some of Ottoman Turkey's grandest mosques, including the stunning Sueleymaniye in Istanbul, or Constantinople as it was officially called back then. His mosques boast ornate facades and lavishly decorated interiors, but there's more to them than just visual beauty. Sinan also took unprecedented care over the acoustics so that songs, prayers, preaching and recital―all central to the life of a mosque―would carry.