The Dalai Lama to release debut album 'Inner World' on his 85th birthday

Grammy nominee and Ravi Shankar's daughter, Anoushka Shankar, will also make a guest appearance in the album

A musician and practicing Buddhist Junelle Kunin began searching for music paired with teachings from the Dalai Lama to calm herself down in New Zealand but she couldn’t find it.

That’s when she proposed an idea to The Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama: Let’s make an album fusing music with mantras and chants from the Tibetan spiritual leader. She was politely turned down, according to .

However, she did not give up and on a trip to India she wrote a letter, handing it to over to one of Lama's assistants, five years after which, Inner World originated.

The album features Lama's teachings and mantras set to release on July 6, his 85th birthday.

“I’d never heard him speak like this. He really was so excited, he actually proceeded to explain to me how important music is,” Kunin said. “He leaned forward and his eyes were sparkling, and his fingers were rubbing together and he (talked) about how music can help people in a way that he can’t - it can transcend differences and return us to our true nature and our good heartedness.”

The 11-track project will be released in conjunction with a companion booklet.

Following this, Kunin wrote down a list of topics and mantras she thought would be great for the album on her trip to India in 2015. She then recorded the conversations with him for the album.

In it, Lama recites the mantras of the seven Buddhas touching upon topics of wisdom, courage, healing and children. On of the tracks was released on Tuesday titled Compassion, narrating a famous Buddhist prayer.

Kunin said that although her and her husband have worked on the album for the last five years, it feels extremely relevant to release it now. “The entire purpose of this project is to try to help people. It’s not a Buddhist project, it’s to help everyday people like myself, even though I am Buddhist,” she said.

“The messages couldn’t be more poignant for our current social climate and needs as humanity.”

Net proceeds from the sales of the album will benefit Mind & Life Institute as well as Social, Emotional and Ethical Learning (SEE Learning), an international education program developed by Emory University and the Dalai Lama.

Grammy-nominated sitar player Anoushka Shankar has also made a guest appearance on the album, playing on Ama La, a track honoring mothers.

Shankar said being invited to perform on the album was "a huge honor.” She first met Lama as a child with her father and legendary musician Ravi Shankar.

For the new album, she said, “What I was given was a beautiful template of (the Dalai Lama’s) voice. It was very evocative with his speaking. It’s so clear what the mood is about, that it kind of flowed quite simply to just play over that and try to add a musical enhancement to the words he’s speaking.”

Kunin co-produced the album with her husband and added vocals to three songs, including Purification. She wrote the piano part of that track with her hospitalized mother in mind, growing more nervous as Covid-19 spread.

“I really thought we were going to lose her. And so I wrote what I would want her to feel and hear at the time of her dying,” Kunin said.

Her mother survived, but weeks later her nephew died. And because of Covid-19 restrictions, she and her family couldn’t carry out the traditions of his demise and her husband was back home finishing the album to meet its deadline.

“(My husband) was home weeping at this point, which is when the inspiration came to complete the song Purification," Kunin said. The couple then dedicated the track to their nephew Izyah Micah Toli.

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