Sometimes when people are discussing their favorite qurra’ and I say my favorite is Mishary Rashid Alafasy (hafidhuAllah), people give me that “oh-how-standard-why’d-you-pick-him” look.
What do you want me to say? Someone with a fancy reciting style? Someone who is moved to tears when he recites?
I like Mishary because:
1-I can actually observe the rules of Tajweed that I learned. He stops where I learnt to stop; he elongates the Madd the way I was taught to elongate the Madd, etc.
2-His recitation is in sync with the meaning. He seldom cries in his official recordings but you can tell when he’s reciting a calming ayah, a warning ayah or a conversational ayah simply by the way he changes his tone of voice.
3-He has a unique style for each surah, even in the way he says “Bismillah” for them sometimes, which helps if you’re trying to memorize.