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In spite of the pedigree, Peace for Paradise is only Yoga’s second solo album (following 1997’s Tamil Classics on Exil). Its forthcoming release coincided with a solo appearance at 2005’s Reading Womad Festival, and both occasions reveal an artist at the height of his powers — but also one more concerned with communication than display.

Peace for Paradise is dedicated to the peace process in Sri Lanka, and embodies a deeply felt plea from an artist who lost his own father and sister to the ongoing civil conflict. His sincerity is so palpable that it justifies an ingenuous directness in his lyrics which might otherwise feel awkward (“All colours in all colours find the spirit of peace”, “Nature lives for everyone, listen to my plea”).

Many of the songs incorporate elements of the sacred, but, in universal spirit, cover everything from Hinduism (“om shanti”) to Christianity (the Agnus Dei). The musical language is wide open, particularly to European sounds (accordion, violin, piano and rhodes rub shoulders with oud, sitar, kanchura and so on). The results can be peculiar — hearing “om shanti” sung on ‘Colours’ to a harmony and accompaniment which wouldn’t be out of place on a Serge Gainsbourg chanson, for example — but never jarring, thanks to Marlon Klein’s smooth productions.

The album opens with perhaps its strongest track, ‘Thirukkural’, featuring Yoga’s voice sampled in close harmony with itself and an extended improvisation based on this riff. The formula is not repeated, with the voice often synthesised as part of more complex textures (as on ‘Why’, ‘Uma’), or singing more syllabic material (‘Free Sri Lanka’). Most of the album is strongly beat-driven, and this sometimes feels a bit of a straitjacket around the talents of the vocalist. The scintllating melismas really only return in the final track, ‘Calling’, a free piano and vocals duet.

Yoga’s vocal technique comfortably manage a range of pitch, intensity, volume and speed which might defeat many western concert artists. Yet Yoga’s chief concern is with his message and his instrument remains just that — an instrument, designed to carry words of peace, love and devotion.