Songs Written With Poets In More Than Twenty Countries —Made In Hawaii, Given To The World.

My professional expertise began in audio production, where I produced television commercial jingles for major Pakistani brands.

Over the years, my music has reached audiences around the world. It has been used in a United Nations environmental campaign, a British classroom film, and an American theatre production commemorating the sixtieth anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. My work has also been featured at peace festivals in India, France, Romania, and New York.

My musical collaborations have developed in different ways. Sometimes poets and artists contact me directly with their words. At other times, I approach poets and friends and invite them to write about themes such as peace, love, and the environment. The work may continue through email, conversations, and phone calls.

“May Peace Prevail on Earth” began when Romanian poet Tatomir Ion-Marius sent me his lyrics in October 2006. I set the words to music, and the song premiered on 11 August 2007 at the A Call to Peace Festival at the World Peace Sanctuary in Amenia, New York, organized by the World Peace Prayer Society. It was later broadcast on Romanian radio the following spring.

For “Plant More Trees,” I approached several poet friends and asked them to write songs about environmental concerns. I selected one of the resulting works, which became part of my album Circle of Peace.

The song was created in direct support of the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Billion Tree Campaign and was featured in the campaign’s audiovisual materials. It was later selected for the French compilation Un arbre pour la paix, un arbre pour la terre. The compilation was distributed free of charge with classroom kits to more than one thousand schoolchildren.

On 20 March 2008—the first day of spring—several schools planted four thousand trees in a burned-out area and sang the song during the ceremony.

Another example is “Humanitarian Art Song,” created in collaboration with Iranian-French artist Lida Sherafatmand, who contributed the words. The recording was played at a peace conference at Oxford University, where it was well received and resonated with the attendees.

These are three examples among many. Together, they reflect the way my work has brought poetry, music, artists, and peace initiatives into collaboration across borders.

The larger projects grew from the same spirit of collaboration. The World Prayer for Peace Project, carried out over twelve years from 2005 to 2016, brought together 1,888 artists from 50 countries. The entire project was coordinated through email, before social media provided an easy way to organize international collaborations. The recording and production took place at StarLight Harmony Music Studio.