Yusuf/Cat Stevens on his “Road to Findout”

“You must admit that they misunderstood me,” said the singer-author of the songs Yusuf Islam. “Even when I wrote a“ foreigner ”, I started with a word, I can't use words, because the meaning still leaves you to chooseThe field so, the artist, in order to try to explain himself, should work a little more diligent. ”

In a sense, the music was a by -product of a lifelong search, says Islam (also known as Kat Stevens), who met with us behind the scenes in London.

I asked: “Do you get something from the game on stage, that you are not playing alone?”

“I'm afraid,” he answered. “A lot of people there!”

But this musical giant, who originated in the 1960s, and now in the 70s, can still move the crowd.

Nicole Perry Ellis arrived in the London Hyde Park with her daughter Natasha to attend the concert of Yusuf. She described it as “a very emotional moment. Because before [Natasha] Born, we listened to music when I was pregnant. ”

Natasha described Yusuf as eternal: “He has a spirit, he has a soul, and she goes beyond.”

“I think my songs have always been quite deep,” said Yusuf. “Many of them today are related to the world. I mean, “wild world”? You know, come on! And “peaceful train”, Waiting for the arrival of the trainThe boy is a boy, we need it, yes. I mean they are relevant. ”

His main topics survived, since his name passed through his evolution. “I had a girlfriend who once looked at me and said:“ Oh, you look like a cat. ” And I went: “What?” It got stuck.

“Do you think you would be as successful as Stephen Demeter Georgi?” I asked.

“Not there … You cannot play with fate,” he answered.

In his new memoir “Cat on the way to search”, he explores his family, faith, career and ego.

He writes that the achievement of a superstar in adolescence was quite difficult. “The problem is successful in the fact that in a sense, it is partly from reality,” he said. “Who are you? Are you this person on the screen, on the stage, or is there anything else for you? I was looking for big answers. “

I asked: “What did you try, spiritually?”

“Well, you know, a bookstore is full of many different views on life, beliefs and philosophy, so I dug everywhere. I think that the most important thing was when I finally reached the Qur'an at the end. And it just gathered all together. ”

He took the name Yusuf Islam and, believing that the music was HaramOr it is forbidden – he redirected his fees to finance his charity efforts, performed an auction with instruments, focused on his family and left music for almost 30 years.

Why did he believe that music is prohibited? “It took me time to understand that much of what they told me at the beginning, when I became a Muslim was not entirely right,” he said. “You know, Islam does not prohibit anything healthy and morally good.”

I asked: “How do you reconcile you, who put it aside with you, who hugged the music again?”

“You go through stages,” said Yusuf. “When you can fall in love, and the next time you have such a dispute with a person, you say:“ What the hell, take away from my life! “You know, you change, your attitude is changing depending on the circumstances.

He provides the context of the controversial chapter regarding Salman Rushdi’s novel “Satanic Poems”, which was inflamed in the Muslim world – and Fatata, calling for the death of the author. In 1989, having appeared in the British television program, where hypothetical questions were asked, he was asked if he would attend the scarecrow of Rushdi, to which he replied: “I would hoped that it would be real, but in fact, if it were just a scarecrow, I don’t think that it would have been to move there.”

“I mean, I have a British sense of humor,” Yusuf said. “I took it in some kind of funny direction. It was not very good because no one laughed. So, you know, I kind of, I made a mistake, thinking that people could get a joke. But it was a serious problem, so I should not really do it. ”

“The joke that you mean, speaking, preferred a real thing, not a scarecrow?”

“Anything, anything.”

“When you saw the headlines after that, you are even worried today”

“Let's get off this topic, please,” said Yusuf.

“You raise this in the book, so it seems -“

“No, it was only a small part of the book.”

I said: “But it seems that in this book you partially wanted to install the record directly from your point of view.”

“That's right,” Yusuf answered. “I think I did it.”

I asked: “How to sit down and write something is so personal as to go through good, bad, ugly, beautiful?”

“I left quite a lot of ugly, in fact, to be honest!”

“You were hard on yourself.”

“Is it true? It's nice to know. I tried to be honest in my spelling of songs and in writing my book. ”

This singer-author of songs, who once abandoned fame for faith, now found his balance, acting as Yusuf/Kat Stevens.

Answering the question of how this will act, using both names, Yusuf/Cat Stevens replied: “In fact, this is very symbolic, because for a long time I wanted to separate myself from my past, and I did it. So, uniting these two names together, in fact, they actually form a complete picture, like me. And you just listen to you just you can listen to. know?”

Internet exclusive: Expanded interview – Yusuf/Cat Stevens (video)

See also:

To obtain additional information:

The story created by Michaela Bufano. Editor: Brian Robbins.