On the long journey from Kampala, Uganda, to Tehran, 15-year-old Hamissi Mawejje had plenty of time to spend with his iPod. With the plugs pushed into his ears, which emerged from under his red fez, Mr. Mawejje whispered along with his favorites. Rather than rap or dubstep, however, his interest ran more to the star chanters — some long dead — of the Koran.

For Mr. Mawejje, Uganda’s reigning Koran reciting champion, the flight to Iran provided a last chance to study the masters, listening to how they calibrated their tone, emphasis and vibrations to the drama and import of the holy book’s verses.

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