Electric Sufi released a new album on 21st July called Breathe in Love.
The band consists of Sheffield based Professor of Music & Sound Archaeologist at Huddersfield University Rupert Till; Manchester based singer-songwriter & environmental activist Sarah Yaseen plus Nottingham based multi-instrumentalist / University lecturer Mina Mikhael Salama.
The trio bring much collectively & individually to the Electric Sufi sound, resulting in a rich tapestry of cultural & musical layers of influence.
They had a single come out earlier in the summer, also named Breathe in Love, which followed their previous single O Ignis Spiritus in spreading a message of hope. The track furthers the band’s climate change conversation with the idea of nurture and leaving a better world for those who come after us.
As with much of Electric Sufi’s music, Breathe in Love mixes traditional Arabic instrumentation with electronica to produce a distinctive sound and is a key philosophy behind the band’s message to find ways of drawing traditions & ideologies together rather than push them apart.
Some traditions suggest that the old testament name of God, ‘Yahweh’, which could not be spoken out loud, would actually be sounded through in-breaths & out-breaths. This multi-level understanding of the concept of breath is also reflected in the current awareness of the planet’s need for life-giving oxygen, as we breathe it in with every breath & in return breathe out the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.
Unlike previous single O Ignis Spiritus, the lyrics are in English and the song itself is based on a mindfulness exercise from the Yogic tradition, although it also reflects the spiritual concept of the ‘Breath of God’ which animated humanity.
