Sounds in Tirana

It’s a hot and humid Saturday afternoon, but all open windows in my apartment are providing a comfortable cross ventilation. A group of young boys are playing soccer down below in the street, and their squeals and energetic outbursts remind me of a comment from the Italian friends, who recently visited me here. It’s an unusual sight these days, in any city, to see children having fun on the street and not in front of a tv tube, or computer. This brings to mind that, here in Tirana, I also experience different sounds unheard of elsewhere.

The noise of the chaotic vehicular traffic starts early in the day (~7am), but subsides after 3pm, when most of the city and state offices close their doors for the day, and most people go home for a late lunch. A siesta atmosphere sets in afterward, for a couple of hours of an almost eerie silence, and then people begin to stroll for a late afternoon walk, when the temperature is also ideal, and there is no wind, like in NY.

There is no need for me to generally look at the clock in Tirana because the call to prayer beams out from the minaret of a nearby mosque five times a day, right on the dot, just like the sounds of church bells did when I lived in Italy during my youth. Then, even I enjoyed a lot playing in the street with my school friends.

A decade ago the broadcasting from the minarets were quite loud, but now they are barely heard, and the bells of the Catholic churches here are small and their sound noticeable only if you are located nearby.

A couple more sounds are typical here at night. Once in a while someone decides to ignite some fire works, just for fun I guess, and some abandoned dogs, unfortunately still roaming the streets of this city, bark and howl….who knows…...at the moon!