All kinds of lanterns/ Light up the dark/ But there's only One God .../ Has a place in my heart. (Yusuf Islam, 'All Kinds of Roses')
Returning to Australia after 36 years, Yusuf Islam, formerly the 1960s rock guru Cat Stevens, certainly shares his heart. He also shares his faith, but not too extravagantly. It is there in abundance but is not grasping. It is sung like a muezzin's call to prayer, but with no commands. As gentle as the man himself.
All kinds of people
make up my life ...
All kinds of faces
show me their love.
A solitary figure, he appears in a long coat and hat and begins an older man's rendition of a younger man's songs. Melbourne's Rod Laver Arena bursts into brilliant light as he shares the Cat Stevens classic 'Wild World'. All kinds of people are captured in its glow; all kinds of faces showing their love for this humble visionary.
At times he is the folk singer, seated with his guitar. At other times the stage bursts with sound and light, the tempo racing. Yusuf's voice carries intricacies of melody, tone, story and poetic nuance, a sumptuous visit to the textures and moods of his questing generation. The sandpaper of lower notes and the soft sacred sounds of the lovely 'Morning Has Broken' are all present.
Yusuf is a man in love with the world and its people, and his faith embodies an activist spirit. Since finding his spiritual home in Islam over three decades ago his humanitarian work has placed him in another spotlight. His organisation, Muslim Aid, supported famine victims in Africa in the 1980s. His charity, Small Kindness, supports orphans and needy families.
We sense this humanity at play on stage.
As Cat Stevens, he always sought life's purpose. Recognising his deep spiritual roots he knew his path had to change. 'I listen to the wind, to the wind of my soul' he sings in 'The Wind', and we admire his courage.
He sensed a need to reconnect after his years of stardom and social alienation. Listening to 'Sitting' we can sense the passion of his journey:
Oh I'm on my way, I know I am,
Somewhere not so far from here.
All I know is what I feel right now,
I feel the power growing in my hair.
While in Marrakech, Morocco in the early 1970s, Stevens had his first encounter with Islam. He heard singing and, when