Hearing someone's voice without being able to see him or her always makes me curious. Here in Khartoum, I hear the same voice at least five times a day, but I would not recognise the 'person behind this voice' on the street. This anonymous voice echoes daily through the loud(!) speakers of the nearby mosque with a punctual regularity like a Swiss watch. And the more I listen to
the voice, the more curious I get. Not particularly because I think it's the most beautiful voice I have ever heard; in fact it is not always that relaxing to hear it every morning at 4.30 am. But I have noticed that
the voice often seems to take a pause to produce some other sounds as well; almost all his sentences begin with an insistent cough or loud throat scraping sound. Maybe an itchy throat? Whenever I hear these coughs, I can't help myself feeling wanting to offer him a refreshing mint or sweet (-this would be good concept for a Sudanese TV commercial for throat sweets, by the way!-). On the other hand, this coughing could also simply be a nervous habit of
the voice? I can imagine it would make him nervous to realize that so many people in the area will be hearing him sing and talk. A strong cough after a long sentence could maybe give him the change get ready for the next long sentence. Who knows? Maybe one day I will get an answer to my questions. Until then I guess I will just keep my ears and my imagination open. Oh, there it comes again!
