Costco Connection - June 2009

arts & entertainment

Roadsinger, the new album by Yusuf Islam ( formerly Cat Stevens) is often reminiscent of classic Cat Stevens works.

PAUL HARRIES

Gliding

on the peace train

Yusuf Islam”snewalbumpicks
up where Cat Stevens left off

By Will Fifield

“SAW A SIGN on the path: all seekers this way,” sings Yusuf Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens. These opening lines of “Welcome Home,” the first track on Roadsinger, Islam’s new album, seem apropos for a man whose path in life has been a winding journey toward inner peace.

His voice, and the way the 11 songs on Roadsinger come together, evoke memories of classic Cat Stevens songs such as “Wild World,” “Morning Has Broken,” “Father and Son,” “Peace Train” and “Moonshadow.”

Born Steven Demetre Georgiou in London in 1948, Islam adopted the stage name Cat Stevens in the late 1960s. His music, often compared to that of Jackson Browne, Paul Simon and James Taylor, became very popular in the 1970s—so popular that, as Cat Stevens,

he”ssoldmorethan60millionalbumsaround
the world. He also wrote “The First Cut Is the
Deepest,” which was a hit single for four differ-
ent artists.

But even as his career as a recording artist flourished, Islam struggled with the direction his life was taking. “It was certainly not a normal life. You know, working very late, sometimes doing two or three gigs in one night, endless TV and radio shows, driving at full gear,” Islam tells The Connection in a recent e-mail interview.

In 1977, after years of soul searching and a couple of near-death experiences, he converted to the Islamic faith. Shortly after his conversion he changed his name again and auctioned off his musical instruments, officially ending his career as a singer/songwriter. “Although I still

had a love for music and for all things aesthetic and beautiful, it was time for me to stop making music,” he explains. “I seriously needed and wanted a change. I wanted to start a new life. I got married and started a family.”

For nearly 30 years Islam disappeared almost entirely from the public eye. He devoted himself to his faith and to his family. “A lot of people see my life as if it was split into two parts,” he explains. “Well, it’s not like that. It’s all been one life, really. So if you talk about how Yusuf is today, he’s the real Cat Stevens, if you like, but he’s just grown up.”

However, in 2005, his son, a budding musician, set the stage for a musical reawakening in his father. “My son was very influential in getting me back together with the guitar,” Islam says. “He had brought one back into the house. When I saw it at home again I realized I had to strike up a relationship with this long-lost object. It was this experience, after such a long gap, that really got me going again. It opened an amazing flood of ideas and songs.”

Roadsinger is only the second album Islam has recorded since returning to his singer/ songwriter career. An Other Cup, released in 2006, was a reunion of sorts, of Islam coming back to music.

“For me, it wasn’t a conscious decision to
even record an album. My son saw I had a lot
of songs building up. One day
he said, ‘Isn’t it time for you to
go into the studio again, Dad?’
It was as simple as that,” Islam
explains. “This album [Road-
singer] is quite different from
my previous album. Most of
it was recorded live.”
Islam says that though
he’s taken a long break, he’s
farther down the song-
writing path than ever. He
believes he didn’t lose
anything by taking the path he’s been
on. And he feels that there’s job security as a
writer, always looking to write the perfect
song, because there’s always a muse calling
one deeper.

“I believe art and music, for some miraculous reason, have the power to bring a lot of people together. It’s one of the most natural ways to communicate feelings without pushing anything onto anybody. I [just] wish that more people would look past the storm of political turbulence and antagonism, and get to know what unites us, for peace.” C