Gently Persuasive

Michael Dwye, *Gentle voice of the love generation strikes a chord again with his music* - Sydney Morning Herald - Sydney, Australia
Monday, June 21, 2010

A young seeker named Cat Stevens ''picked up a couple of very important strands of the mysterious truth'' during his last tour of Australia in 1974.

Within two years they would lead him to a new faith and a new name - Yusuf Islam - and out of the music business for three decades.

In one of the most gently persuasive voices of the peace/love generation, the singer recalls a pair of random meetings with lingering wonder.

''She was a tall lady, 60 years old. Her name was Hestia Lovejoy and she turned me on to numerology. My next record was Numbers, as a direct result of that,'' he says. ''Another interesting thing was a book with a velvet cover that was given to me, a book of Rumi's poems. That was my first introduction to Sufism and that was quite important.''

Yusuf's retirement from music in 1976 was a sudden departure to fans, but the London-born Steven Georgiou maintains that his conversion to Islam was the culmination of a gradual discovery.

The assertion is borne out in the lyrics of old songs such as The Road to Find Out, from his landmark Tea for the Tillerman album of 1970, one of many classics he has enjoyed rediscovering since picking up his discarded guitar in 2002.

''It's amazing how seamless the process has been,'' he says. ''But you know, life is continuous. Each album represents a stage in my pathway of life.''

Yusuf weathered controversies after the fatwa against the British author Salman Rushdie in 1989. He also found himself briefly barred from the US in 2004 in a case of mistaken identity. Today he largely distances himself from a media seeking to cast him in the role of a political spokesman for Islam.

''I've been asked many questions in the past and to be honest, I'm not very successful at being a politician,'' he says. ''However, as a poet, as a singer, and as a spiritual person, I find lots of ways, I think, of fixing things.''

Yusuf is touring Australia for the first time in 36 years with his son, Yoriyos, whose '60s-style blues-rock band, Noxshi, is supporting on all dates. They perform tonight and on Wednesday at Sydney Entertainment Centre.

Picture: Return ... Yusuf Islam is touring with his son. Photo: Justin McManus