Dubai: What do you hear? The sand rising; the call to prayer; the drill from a construction site; the honks from cars in traffic; the soft crash of waves; and the shouts of children playing.
They’re the sounds of the UAE, an element of the country’s identity that stirs an emotion, a memory in people. We asked our readers to share the sounds that they associate most with the Emirates.
With over 5,000 mosques spread across the country, the call to prayer is part of the daily soundscape. Ahmad Barnard, a high school teacher in Al Ain, describes the sound of the call to prayer as “hauntingly beautiful”. Close to Ahmad’s home in Al Ain are three mosques. He said: “When the call to prayer begins, the three voices seem to echo simultaneously. It sounds like a choir of angels.”
Another one of his favourite UAE sound is the howl of the wind in the Al Ain desert. “It literally sounds like a snow blizzard. It’s magical, because we’re in the desert and it’s 50 degrees, but it sounds like there’s a snowstorm outside.”
According to Ahmad, these two sounds provide a contrast to the clamour of big cities like Dubai and Abu Dhabi. “They offer a side of the UAE that reminds me of the Arabia of old.”
For reader Ed Clowes, it is the sound of “construction”. He describes the UAE’s signature sound as the “banging, crashing, shouting, and beeping” around construction sites in Dubai: “I suppose that’s the soundtrack to a city in progress.”
With an urban landscape comes the whiz of cars and hum of traffic. Fatima Suhail, who considers the sound of screeches and skids of cars on the road as quintessentially part of the Emirates, said: “I relate the sound to stunts, festivals, and celebrations in the country during which people come out on the roads.”
On another level, that same sound also makes her think of reckless driving attitudes. “The screeching sound produced as a result of sudden brakes indicate a behavioural issue of drivers.”
Mariner Tulang, on the other hand, thinks of a different kind of transport. For him, the “blub-blub, blub-blub” of the abras or water taxis make him think of the UAE the most. “The abras have always fascinated me, given they were one of the early modes of transport here in Dubai. The sounds of flowing wind, the gushing of water, and revving of the abra engines make me feel like I’m part of the country’s history.”
