The album The Centre takes us on a spiritual journey. ‘The Pearl’ is at the heart of this journey, the hidden beauty that is revealed once we peel back these layers of self discovery. Lying in darkness at the bottom of a deep ocean, protected by a hard shell, the pearl is waiting for anyone with the determination and patience to find it.

Throughout history humankind has always been drawn to fire; it provides warmth, protection and a place to gather. It is a symbol of community where ‘it warms from every side’ regardless of who we are or what we do. The fire has a meditative quality where we can gather our thoughts, talk to our friends & make new ones. Even the most solitary journeys require the help of others at times and the fire is a place where we can find that help.

Throughout life there are times for contemplation and times for action. ‘Go’ is a call to action. While hesitation is the enemy of self-confidence, faith and belief, ‘Go’ inspires us to follow our dreams and listen to the “drum that beats from inside you, to the light that shines just to find you”.

‘Khorasan’ is inspired by the stories ‘In Baghdad Dreaming of Cairo: In Cairo, Dreaming of Baghdad’ by Rumi, and The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. Sometimes the treasures we are looking for have been with us all along, but it can take a long journey to discover this. Khorasan is a historical region of Persia that provides the destination of this spiritual journey, where we discover the answers to the secrets of this world were inside us all along.

The light of our sun contains all the colours of this world, and the prism allows us to separate this light into its “secret layers”. Inspired by a phrase from a Hadith Qudsi (Sacred scripture): “When I love him I am his hearing with which he hears, his seeing with which he sees, his hand with which he moves and his foot with which he walks”, the prism is a symbol of discovery, a way of seeing “with which he sees”.

The circle is a symbol of many things to different people: purity, unity, equality, to name a few. There are no corners, no angles, just a pure arc that continues infinitely. Inspired by the Sufi whirling dervishes, ‘The Circle’ is another symbol in this album that represents oneness with our physical presence on this earth and our spiritual presence beyond.

‘You’ is a devotional song based on the 99 Names of God. It links directly to the qualities of God, but far from being exclusive there is also a parental association with ‘You’, serving as an homage to those who have nurtured and protected us throughout our lives.

Just as the centre of a circle draws together all the radii surrounding it into unity, ‘The Centre’ brings together all of the crucial elements of the spiritual journey. Putting aside self-centred doubt and ungratefulness we come to understand that the Here and Now is the doorway between the limited and the Infinite, between time and Eternity. To pass through this doorway is ‘To find the key to all existence.’

The encounter with the Transcendent inspires an unspeakable awe, in the face of which our worldly existence appears as a source of separation and sorrow. ‘Lament’ meditates on lines written by Ibn ‘Arabi communicating the terror and wonder of an experience of the infinitely Beyond. The poet uses visceral language that associates the desolation of the lover with the desolation of the desert to evoke the meeting of overwhelming attraction and overwhelming fear in a heart that trembles in the face of the Absolute.

In an album of search and struggle, ‘The Key’ represents a source of obstruction. We may feel imprisoned in this physical realm, but sometimes the easiest way to free ourselves is to first free our minds. While the key can keep us captive, it can also set us free.

‘Jaaneh Jaanaan’resonates with the tones of a tradition of divine love poetry in Persian that has resounded through the hearts of lovers for a millennium. ‘Jaaneh Jaanaan’ is an intimate conversation with the true Beloved, whom the bewildered poet sees everywhere. He sings of earthly beauty, of the spiritual guide, and of the Divine Beloved Himself, for all true love is ultimately love of the Divine.

‘Sari Gelin’ is a famous Azerbaijani folk song hugely popular around the world, particularly in Türkiye, Azerbaijan, and Persian-speaking countries (Afghanistan, Iran, Tajikistan) as well as Uzbekistan, Greece, Bosnia and Serbia to name just a few. There are many traditional versions of this hauntingly emotional melody. Sami Yusuf has created an English version of this beautiful love song based loosely on translations from the original.