From the call to prayer to the silences of the museum (original) (raw)

Parts of the modern city's function as the classical locus of collective memory 2 are its soundscapes. 3 They provide access to overlapping acoustic communities that construct and experience them, to which they are meaningful and intelligible. 4 The various soundmarks of these communities (ranging from religious sound practices, such as church bells and calls to prayer, to the sounds of craftsmen and music-making) shape individual and collective identities (ethnic, gendered, religious, professional) and help community members make sense of urban culture overall. 5 Salonica qualifies beyond doubt as such a modern city, having undergone over the twentieth century-and especially its first half-a rapid transformation of its soundscapes that both reflect and articulate changes in its social and material fabric. 6