USA: British pop star Sami Yusuf hopes his music can help the Muslim image

British pop star Sami Yusuf writes music he hopes can shape the identity of young Muslims in the East and West. British singer Sami Yusuf is not exactly sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. Instead, the 27-year old Muslim singer writes songs about topics as alien to rock music as the Beslan school massacre in Russia and the identity of young Muslims. Touted by Time magazine as "Islam's biggest rock star," Yusuf has already sold more than 2 million albums and hopes to do for the nascent form of Islamic rock what others have done with Christian rock. "There have been a lot of singers who have sung about religion and stuff. I think, honestly, what I'm bringing is, what I'm doing is unique, and I don't mean that from a conceited point of view. What I'm doing is unique in the sense that it is bringing together so many different influences and cultures, and it's kind of saying, look, it works, we can all live together, we can all share and just chill, if you like. We can do that," he told Reuters in an interview in New York. Yusuf, who was born in Tehran but immigrated to Britain at age 3, said he hates the way Islam is perceived by some in the West. He said he thinks Islamic discrimination has given many young Muslims an issue with their identity - an identity he hopes his music can shape for the better. "The problem that Muslims are facing is an issue of identity. I think a lot of young guys are going through an identity crisis. And that's where people like me come in, an artist and say, look, you can be British, you can be Muslim, you can be hip, you can be having fun. It's not either or," he said. Yusuf's next album, due for release mid-2008, will include songs on Muslim identity and the negative effects of globalization. It will also have a song Yusuf is writing for "The Kite Runner" movie, based on the best-selling novel by Khaled Hosseini.

ITN Source | August 23, 2007

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