Well I’ll be darned. Yesterday I wrote a few lines about Koranic recitation and the relationship between language and music, and today the New York Times has a piece on the Dubai International Holy Koran Award, a Koran reciting competition for males aged 21 years and younger.
Apparently this is quite the contest. There are over 80 people from all over the world competing for the top prize of almost $70,000 (with prizes totaling $700,000 in all). One of the competitors is an American kid from Oak Lawn, Illinois who gave up playing in his high school’s homecoming football game in order to attend.
I loved Spellbound, the documentary on American spelling bees, and I bet you could tell a great story about this reciting competition, too, following kids from all over the world as they prepare.
Spellbound was such a great name for that film. What would you call this one?
6 comments ↓
Have you seen “Word Wars”? Scrabble is in your genes….you should see it.
How about “KoraNation”??? (coronation….nation)
Ah, I saw that at the library the other day and thought about checking it out. I will at some point.
KoraNation is promising…we’ll definitely keep it in the running!
Recitation Nation
Korazzled
NASKOR (National Koranic Competition)
Great, Adriana.
I know I’ve already used this on the site, but how about, “Word to Your Imama?”
have you seen this:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4404662.stm
Very cool. Thanks, center. I hadn’t seen that.
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