The Dalai Lama Announces Debut Album With NZ's Junelle Kunin

These days it seems like everyone's got at least one mixtape up their sleeves. Joining the recent flood of international and local releases sparked by lockdowns across the globe, none other than The Dalai Lama has announced his debut album Inner World, a collaborative recording with New Zealand producer and practicing Buddhist Junelle Kunin (Ngāi Te Rangi, Ngāti Pūkenga, Ngāti Tūwharetoa). Releasing on 6th July to honour the Tibetan Buddhism leader's 85th birthday celebrations, the project was initiated by Kunin who wrote him a letter requesting his participation, to which he replied “This will benefit many people!” later stating "The very purpose of my life is to serve as much as I can... Music can help people in a way that I can’t”.

Described as "a unique album of mantras and teachings by The Dalai Lama set to music," the album was completed by Kunin and her husband, co-producer Abraham Kunin (Teeks, Home Brew) over a five year period, and will be released alongside a Inner World companion booklet, featuring artwork by Aotearoa visual artists Ella Brewer and Tiffany Singh. The Dalai Lama is of course no stranger to the contemporary music scene, having collaborated with the Beastie Boys for the Tibetan Freedom Concerts in the mid-90s. Experience The Dalai Lama's first single from the record ‘Compassion’ here...

Net proceeds from the sales of INNER WORLD will go to The Gaden Phodrang Foundation of the Dalai Lama (Switzerland) chosen program: Social, Emotional and Ethical Learning (SEE Learning), an international K-12 education program and part of an academic collaboration between Emory University and His Holiness; and Mind and Life Institute, which brings science and contemplative wisdom together to better understand the mind & create positive change in the world.