Sunday morning music

 

Something prayerful and contemplative this morning, from an unlikely source - Cat Stevens, now known as Yusuf Islam.  The song "O Caritas" ("Charity" or "Compassion") appeared on his sixth studio album, "Catch Bull At Four".  As the lyrics show, the song reflects his intense inward search for a spiritual home at the time, which was to lead him to convert to Islam in 1977.

I like the song because it can be read, sung or heard as a prayer by those of many different faiths - or none at all.  It makes one think, and that's something rare in most modern music (at least, in my limited experience of it).

There's a South African connection, too.  Jeremy Taylor, a well-known singer and songwriter in that country, was also a schoolteacher.  He helped Cat Stevens translate the lyrics of the song into Latin, and performed flamenco-style guitar on the piece as well.

Peter