Interview with Dawud Wharnsby Ali
(An interview done by Sound Vision, Jan, 2005) An Ontario native, of English-Scottish descent, Dawud (formerly `David') Wharnsby Ali, left a brief career as a singer/songwriter and performer in Celtic and traditional Folk circles, after embracing Islam in 1993. Sound Vision interviewed him to probe the mind behind this Muslim artist. SV: How do you come up with ideas for recordings? DWA: It is hard to explain exactly what will inspire ideas for songs or poems I write. Some things that the average person might think would be inspirational, may not effect me in the least. Something very insignificant to others may effect me deeply and inspire me to write. Vary rarely do I pick a theme, or take a suggested theme, then sit down to write about it. Usually I am effected by something that I see or experience. My lyrics often come out all at once, in a sort of `burst'. If I do not write them down quickly or record them in some way, they are gone from my head. After I write a song, I te...