Q&A with Sami Yusuf

What does India mean to You?

India!

Inspiring, astonishing, eternal India.

Listeners have been sending me quite a lot of questions about India lately – Have I ever been there? – Do I like Indian food? – What about the music? – What does India mean to me?

Where can I begin to speak of this vast and holy land? I’ll start by saying that my personal connection to this amazing land runs deep. I’ve had a love affair with India since I was a kid. Don’t forget I’m from the UK where the national dish is curry. And growing up in a home filled with traditional arts, I heard a lot of Indian music. I would listen to qawwali music and almost fall into a trance. It would lift me out of myself and fill me with its power. Still does.

And it wasn’t only the sound of qawwali that filled my imagination even as a child. I’ve always been a huge fan of Hindustani rags. Listening to the ecstatic and profound improvised ‘conversations’ between instruments is like listening to planets pouring out their hearts to one another in emotional melodies, as if telling of our earthly life from their heavenly perspective. Tablas, sitar, sarod, sarangi – they each speak their own language of incredibly nuanced sounds and rhythms.

And to think that the deep ocean of sound that is the music of India is only one among the many marvels it has given – and continues to give – to the world! All the arts – from the subtle art of scent, to the culinary arts, to dance, to the stunning works of architecture – they all have a thread of spirituality and sensuality running through them.

India is the definition of unity in diversity. Colonisers came, some left, most were absorbed into India’s vibrant identity. The diversity of languages alone is amazing – Marathi, Telugu, Tamil, Urdu, Bengali, ­Malayam – there are many thousands of them. But these incredibly diverse linguistic and ethnic groups have stayed unified by their common love of country.

As the birthplace of four major religions – Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, and Jainism – and home to many more including Islam, freedom of religion is enshrined in the Indian constitution. But it’s deeper than that. When Islam arrived in India a rich discourse between Hindu and Muslim saints and sages began, and it’s a dialogue that continues to this day. When I went to the Nagore Dargah, a Sufi shrine in Tamil Nadu, I saw that the majority of pilgrims there for the Muslim saint’s blessings were in fact Hindu! This is just one example of the peaceful coexistence and deep appreciation of others’ religions that exists throughout this country, some of which I’ve witnessed personally.

It’s hard to go to India without awakening something deep in your soul.

Most recently I was there for my performance at the Sufi Route in New Delhi in 2019. It was such a magical night – in the ‘Garden of the Five Senses’.  And before that I spent some time in Tamil Nadu and Kerala and also in the north. With each visit I got a deeper glimpse into the ethos of this dynamic country.

The remarkable way that India has absorbed and accepted religions and peoples – a way that’s unique in the world – tells me that it’s in the Indian character to look for truth and beauty at the essence of all things – and to find it.

I often hear from fans in Gujarat, Kerala, Mumbai – all over India. It’s meaningful to me firstly because as I turn more and more to the music of traditional cultures, I appreciate knowing that my compositions are resonating within the home of one of the world’s greatest artistic and spiritual civilisations. Secondly, the message I want to share in my music is one not only of spirituality, but also of unity in diversity, tolerance, acceptance, and love. These are values that are the lifeblood of India, and to see that my music finds resonance there tells me that these works may be starting to take their place in keeping the traditions alive for the next generation.

I know I’m speaking of ideals here. Are there huge problems in this world’s largest democracy? Yes, of course there are. It saddens me and I’m sure it does many Indians that the country’s stability is under threat by forces that are trying to create division for their own purposes. This is disturbing precisely because India’s greatness is in its multiculturalism. But given the creative genius of Indian civilisation over the course of millennia to absorb, and welcome, and be strengthened by the diverse peoples and influences that have penetrated it, I think we can feel confident that the voice of this incredible land will not be silenced. At a time, especially in the West, when everything has to be fast, instant, when changes come too quickly and it seems the forces of division are too strong, let’s remember that Hinduism gave us the concept of vast cycles of time known as the Yugas, and gain some peace from that cosmic perspective.

There is so much more I’d like to say this country I love, but I’ll stop for now with this perfect description by Octavio Paz who like me has been a visitor to this land.

“India lives between extremes; it embraces the extremes. It’s rooted in the earth but always traveling toward an invisible beyond.”