Legendary British troubadour Cat Stevens (Yusuf Islam) will host the first-ever ‘Catsong Festival’ online this weekend. The virtual festival – which will air on YouTube at 8pm GMT this Saturday 5th December – coincides with the fiftieth anniversary of Stevens’ celebrated 1970 albums Mona Bone Jackson and Tea For The Tillerman.
Aɴɴᴏᴜɴᴄɪɴɢ: CᴀᴛSᴏɴɢ Fᴇꜱᴛɪᴠᴀʟ
Over 40 fantastic musical artists cover the songs of Yusuf / Cat Stevens
Broadcast on 5th December at 8pm GMT / 12pm PT
Set YouTube reminder: https://t.co/QttL5SHEOG#CatSongFestival #CatStevens #Tillerman50 pic.twitter.com/eSMZv9PbYL— Yusuf / Cat Stevens (@YusufCatStevens) November 30, 2020
Tea For The Tillerman remains one of Stevens’ most influential records, and spawned two of his most-loved (and covered) songs in Father and Son and Wild World. In September this year the Marylebone-born folk-pop veteran released a re-imagining of the album, Tea for the Tillerman 2. In an interview with Rock Cellar Magazine, Stevens/Yusuf said that it was ‘logical‘ for him to revisit the classic LP as it reaches its half-century.
He said “So we’re now in 2020 and my son and I were discussing ideas. He came up with the idea of perhaps recording the whole thing again. He probably wasn’t serious but I said, ‘Yeah, that’s a really great idea.’ Because the album is so iconic and I felt a little bit intimidated by its success over the years, to revisit it meant I could make it mine again; I could reclaim the narrative and make it life-sized again.”
The CatSong Festival will see over forty artists from across the world performing songs from Stevens’ sizeable back-catalogue. Headline acts set to perform on Saturday include Californian rockers HAIM, fresh off the success of their masterful third album Women in Music Pt. III; Grammy Award-winning American musician Dave Matthews; Hawaiian acoustic pop merchant Jack Johnson; and Brandon Boyd, lead vocalist for nu-metal pioneers Incubus.
A host of British artists are also set to perform. The virtual gig will include sets from You Give Me Something and You Make It Real singer James Morrison; Ivor Novello award winner Passenger; Blackpool-born songwriter Leoni Jane Kennedy; London rapper/MC Fedzilla; folk-soul songstress Charlie Austen; reggae multi-instrumentalist Eric Appapoulay (performing with Ghanaian musician Kwame Yeboah); Brighton singer-guitarist Mary Spender; and pop-rock balladeer Mollie Marriott.
There will also be a special performance from Stevens’ long-time collaborator Alun Davies, who has played guitar and provided backing vocals on the majority of Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam’s sixteen studio albums – including Tea For The Tillerman and Tea for The Tillerman 2. The multi-talented Welshman is set to perform at CatSong Festival with his daughter Becky Davies, who has also performed with her father’s band Good Men in the Jungle.
A statement on Stevens’ website says of Davies: “It’s difficult to quantify the immense contribution that Alun Davies has made to Yusuf / Cat Stevens’ career. Not only do his delicate guitar playing and thoughtful vocal harmonies compliment Yusuf’s style perfectly but he has been a crucial friend and support from the time that the two first started working together. Indeed, it’s hard to imagine Yusuf’s music and career without Alun by his side.“
