It is meant to be a beautiful, melodic and spiritual start to the day. But the morning calls to prayer by some of   <table style="width: 162px; height: 170px" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="162" align="right" border="1">  <tbody>  <tr>  <td><img alt="" src="/imagedata/2010/may/imam.jpg" border="0" /></td></tr>  <tr>  <td>  <p align="center"><span style="font-size: 8pt"><strong>PRAYING IT RIGHT:</strong> It has been rude awakening for Istanbul residents with 'tuneless' muezzins and imams crowing the azaan in the morning. <strong>Representation</strong> <strong>pic/Getty images</strong></span></p></td></tr></tbody></table>Istanbul's muezzinsu00a0 have had locals plugging their ears rather than reaching for their prayer books. <br /><br />The problem is such that following a flood of complaints by locals, special classes for the tuneless culprits have been set up.<br /><br />Imam Mehmet Tas, one of the school's first pupils, said he was already feeling the benefits.u00a0 "I have so much more self-confidence in my abilities now, to do all five calls to prayer in their correct tempos," he said.<br /><br />The improvement schemewas put together by Mustafa Cagrici, the city's head of religious affairs, who is determined to make sure all of the city's 3,000 mosques produce a beautiful call-to-prayer each morning.<br /><br />He says that since lessons started, complaints have dropped from hundreds a month to just dozens.<br /><br />"The azan brings people to God, that's why it's so important to sing it well. There are some people who can't improve.u00a0 So we connect their mosque, by radio, to a central mosque where there's an imam who can sing," said Cagrici.<br /><br />  <table class="ae_noborder" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="2" width="400" border="0">  <tbody>  <tr>  <td bgcolor="#ef4130"><strong><font color="#ffffff"><span style="font-size: 10pt">What is the Azan?</span></font></strong></td></tr>  <tr>  <td bgcolor="#e1e1e1"><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt">Azan is the first call to prayer, called by the muezzin from a minaret of a mosque five times a day. It is uttered in a loud, albeit sweet melodious, voice to announce to the faithful that it is time for the Obligatory Prayer. Those who perform Azan are known as muezzins. The honour of being the first Muezzin goes to Hazrat Bilal, a black slave who converted to Islam. He had a very sweet, resonant and musical voice. He was appointed as Muezzin by the Prophet of Islam.</span></font></td></tr></tbody></table>

It is meant to be a beautiful, melodic and spiritual start to the day

Istanbul's out of tune Imams get singing lessons

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Istanbul's out of tune Imams get singing lessons

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