The singer formerly known as Cat Stevens will headline a concert in Indonesia for victims of the Asian tsunami, said a statement posted on his Web site Thursday.

Yusuf Islam — who is barred from the United States because terror intelligence identifies him as a security threat — also plans to open an Indonesian branch of his charity, Small Kindness.

He will have top billing at the concert of local artists in Jakarta on Jan. 31 that will raise money for tsunami victims from Indonesia’s Aceh province, according to a statement available on his Web site Thursday.

Islam has composed a new song, “Indian Ocean,” in response to the disaster and recently recorded it with musicians including A.R. Rahman, the prolific Indian composer/producer, Magne Furuholmen of A-Ha fame, and Travis drummer Neil Primrose. It will be released in February to raise money for children orphaned by the earthquake.

“Like everyone else, I was so shaken by the enormity of this human tragedy, and the song just came without effort,” Islam said in the statement. “It is my contribution towards helping to rebuild the broken spirits of the victims of the disaster.”

The track includes the use of instruments, which Islam has avoided since embracing Islam in 1977, but the musician insisted, “It’s not a return to Cat Stevens, I see it more as a natural response to express my concern as a Muslim and as an artist; I believe both can exist side by side particularly when the cause is right.”

“After I embraced Islam many people told me to carry on composing and recording but at the time I was hesitant for fear that it might be for the wrong reasons. I felt unsure what the right course of action was.

“I guess it is only now after all these years that I’ve come to fully understand and appreciate what everyone has been asking of me. It’s as if I’ve come full circle — however, I have gathered a lot of knowledge on the subject in the meantime.”

Islam was removed from a London-to-Washington flight in September because of suspected links to terrorists — a claim he has strongly denied.

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On the Net:

Yusuf Islam, www.yusufislam.org.uk

Credit: AP