Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
British singer-songwriter of classics like 'Wild World' and 'Father and Son'; converted to Islam and stopped recording for over 20 years.
On the island
Eight records
West Side Story Film Soundtrack
That was the musical which really blew my mind and opened the door for me musically. Leonard Bernstein, absolute genius.
the first single I ever bought, it was Little Richard, and he inspired the Beatles too. I've never heard anything quite like his voice before.
the moment that the sound barriers blasted open with John Lennon's scream... where John Lennon does that primal scream and we all enter a new universe called Twist and Shout.
the most sublime piece of music which I've ever heard and still to this day I think it is the number one song ever written.
I love this song because it talks about the future and in the future we really do not know... it's so potentially descriptive of where I am and where I was.
When you hear these things about music and Islam, you just have to remove the veneer a little bit... Ali Farkatouri, I mean, God, you can see where the blues came from.
Kind of speaks for itself because of the repercussions of my inability to explain myself and my position and perhaps not be learned enough in many cases to explain. So don't let me be misunderstood. And there are many reasons for this song.
AsFavourite
I'd love to hear Stevie Wonder sing As, who I think was the best thing after the Beatles... he really is epitomises for me that music, music, music, and with such a soul. Beautiful.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:57What does music mean to you now?
It's a mystical thing still. I mean, we can't put it on the sort of laboratory table and examine it. It's something which permeates our emotions and our soul, sometimes our intellect, our body moves to it. I mean, there's so many things. But for me, music was a vehicle. It helped propel me towards the direction I wanted to go. In fact, I didn't really know where I was going, but music helped me get there.
Presenter asks
2:29Do you know when you've written a song that is going to be a hit?
Yeah, I mean I knew when I was writing a hit more or less, I knew it was happening and I was just excited for other people to hear it, you know, and that would be... But I was the first one to hear it, you know, so in a way you have to be a fan of your own music, you have to be a fan of yourself in a way and do things which please you and to see that imagination then adopted by millions of other people, it's a pretty incredible, you know, feeling.
Presenter asks
4:32How did your parents meet?
They met in Lyons Corner House in Tottenham Court Road. My father had arrived in London and after quite an adventure, I would say, of a journey going from Cyprus, his homeland, to Egypt first and living there for many years and then going to the States and then finally coming back through Europe to UK. My mother was an au pair and they met in Lyons Corner House over a cup of coffee and I think my dad, you know, when he spotted my mum, that was it.
The keepsakes
The book
Rumi
because everything I need really, I suppose, ultimately is in the Quran. But to go even further into the human sphere, poetry and prose, I would like to have a book by Rumi.
The luxury
because I have such a sweet juice. I mean, you can imagine growing up, you know, in a cafe, Coca-Cola, you know, almond cakes and everything all around you. So Bendix Bittermintz is it.
Presenter asks
5:54How much did the place you were growing up shape your early life?
Totally. Then again, of course, it was not just the place, it was my family. So you had this very sort of Mediterranean, very hot-blooded sort of father, you know, who was very passionate. My mother, who was much cooler, she used to sing to herself, you know, and hum, and she would be very melodic. The way she spoke was like musical. Then you had my brother, who was like the philosopher. So he got me thinking about life too early on, I think. And my sister, who really loved me and looked after me and cared for me. They were both older than me. But then again, as you go out of that kind of sphere, you look at what's going on around you. You see the American dream, like, you know, we've just heard it now. I like to live in America. That's the dream. You know, that was a dream to be to have all those gadgets and those cars and the Levi jeans and I wanted to get as much of it as I could.
Presenter asks
13:52Were you scared when you had TB?
I didn't know if I was going to die. I mean, I thought maybe the doctors are not telling me everything. You know, they're keeping it back from me. And I was stuck in this hospital, King Edward VII hospital in Midhurst. And it was the same hospital that Boris Karloff died. I mean, you know, so you can imagine it was pretty creepy for me. But I started at that point looking elsewhere for my life, you know, for what I wanted to do next. And I started reading a Buddhist book. In fact, it was the first time I'd really gone into anything beyond Christianity.
Presenter asks
20:13How was your conversion to Islam for you?
After this experience in Malibu, you know, I didn't know obviously what was going to happen next. And then my brother had visited Jerusalem... He saw the way in which they were praying... When he came back to London, he was inspired to buy me the Quran as one of the books... I started reading the Quran, and that became the gateway. I was still on tour... going back to my hotel room, it was just the Quran. I was engrossed in this book. And of course I knew there was going to be some kind of impact about this decision. And in the end, after a year, I couldn't hold myself back. I just had to bow down. You know, I said, this is what I was asking for in the ocean. God saved me. I'll work for you. So, okay, this is it. This is the deal.
“I've never got over him, you know, and over his music.”
“The Egyptian mummies.”
“And my soul started expanding.”
“And he saved me.”