Watch Yusuf/Cat Stevens’ Virtual ‘CatSong Festival’
Yusuf/Cat Stevens held his virtual concert, CatSong Festival, today, with a run of musicians gathering to perform their renditions of some of his biggest hits.
Celebrating 50 years of Cat Stevens’ iconic albums, Tea For The Tillerman, and Mona Bona Jakon, which were both released in 1970 the special show was broadcast live on YouTube.
Artists including Haim, Bonnie “Prince” Billy and Matt Sweeney, Jack Johnson, Dave Matthews, James Morrison, Feist, and Brandon Boyd of Incubus, all selected songs from across Cat Stevens’ discography to perform.
The show, which ran for over two hours, saw stars performing in their own spaces, due to the global pandemic. Jack Johnson kicked things off with his take on Cat Stevens’ Where Do The Children Play?, the opening track of Tea For The Tillerman before Haim covered the second track, Hard Headed Woman. Brandon Boyd tackled Stevens’ smash hit, Wild World, one of three versions that were performed for the event.
Speaking about the show, Cat Stevens said: “It’s great to see and hear these covers of my songs given new life. “There’s no better honour for a songwriter than to have his songs performed by talented musicians with such love and sincerity. Thank you.”
But Cat Stevens himself gave his songs a new life, releasing Tea For The Tillerman² in September of this year, where her re-recorded the 11 songs on the classic album to celebrate its anniversary, giving them fresh vocals and altered arrangements.
The star also released anniversary editions of both Mona Bona Jakon and Tea For The Tillerman, which featured an array of demos, live performances and a couple of unreleased songs.
The full performance of CatSong Festival can be watched back below, via Yusuf/Cat Stevens’ YouTube channel