Summit County Citizens Voice

A planet of song …

Mosque along the river in Mostar, Bosnia.

By Garrett Palm

I daydream a lot. Often these daydreams are of whole new worlds that I think I am creating. A while ago I had a reoccurring daydream where I took Captain Jean-Luc Picard from Star Trek: The Next Generation to planets throughout the universe that I found fascinating. Yes, it is embarrassing to admit, especially since it was a daydream from my twenties so I can’t say I was really that young. All I can say in my defense is that I grew up on Star Trek.

One planet that I created was a planet of song. At a certain hour of the day, every single person on this world stepped outside to sing together. This planet-wide chorus was audible from everywhere and I often took the Captain to the top of a mountain to listen.

My first trip to a Muslim country made me feel a touch less crazy when I heard the call to prayer. My friend and I were in Sarajevo in 2006 and the Muezzin began after the sun went down. I ran out from the hostel to hear it better. The Azaan was everything I had hoped for.

West Beirut is one of my favorite places to hear the floating melodies of the call to prayer come down the canyons of modern buildings. Five times a day all the mosques across the neighborhood remind the religious to pray to Mecca.

To see that a place I once dreamed of exists in the real world astonishes me. Now I just need to bring Patrick Stewart with me on my next trip to the Middle East.

Baščaršija in front of the hostel in Sarajevo. The meeting place for Ottoman Sarajevo and the namesake for the old quarters.

More from Garrett Palm:

Travel: Starry nights — and trinkets — in Dogon Country

Morning photo: L’Afrique

Travel: Sandbar soccer in Mali

Travel: World music in the African desert

Travel: Along the Niger River

Travel: Green tea and music videos in Mali

Travel: Taking a moment in the Midi-Pyrénées

Travel: Urban nature in Edinburgh

Roads: Crossing the Himalaya

Travel: Saying goodbye to the Festival Fringe

Travel: Books and bagpipes in Edinburgh

Filed under: Travel Tagged: | Beirut, Garrett Palm, Jean-Luc Picard, Lebanon, Middle East, Muezzin, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Travel, video