I heard the prayer calling first time in my life on my first visit to Qatar. It woke me up at 5am, and I got absolutely captivated by this chant, captured by its beauty... Later I came to Qatar for work, and always enjoyed listening to this magic sound... until one day i moved to another area of Doha, and .... the voice of the guy was so ugly, exactly as irissa describes in her post.. like he is neurotic, or in pain, or really hates what he is doing...
by the way, I have heard that calling for prayer is recorded, not a live chanting..is that correct?