There he was at the front of the Vector Arena in Auckland, New Zealand. A small figure draped in marigold and burnished cardamom colored swaths of fabric. He laughed a bit before putting on a visor to shade his eyes, “It’s too bright! I cannot see anyone!” The crowd of thousands chuckled ever so softly, unsure if it was polite to laugh. For the two-hour speech that followed, a collective focus remained on this man, this icon, this symbol.

That was back in 2007; the last time I saw His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Three years later, I encounter his spirit and message again in Renaissance, the provocative soundtrack of the eponymous documentary about his humanitarian impact and inspirational affect.

Created in the intimate Los Angeles home studio of producer/percussionist Michel Tyabji, Renaissance is an original composition of compassion and respect; a collection of voluntary efforts propelled by the Dalai Lama’s message. “The most affirming thing about this project was that it attracted certain types of people,” Tyabji notes. “No one had any money but we didn’t have a firm schedule, either. We had time.”

Development of the soundtrack unfolded at a pace atypical of music production. With a bottomless tea kettle, musicians gathered at Tyabji’s home to steep in deep discussions about the project and the message. Contributors came from far flung corners: Heyraneh, a female Sufi vocalist from Tehran; The Yoginis, a group of brothers trained in classical Indian music; Techung, an exiled Tibetan trained in traditional Tibetan lhamo opera; and Grammy-award winning guitarist Larry Mitchell.

The results of this natural collaboration are 26 tracks that seamlessly flow from one to the next. Hypnotic vocals float a river of singing bowls, rhythm guitars, narrative snippets by Harrison Ford, and powerful percussions.”I was actually shocked how easily things gelled: traditional Indian, underneath or on top of Afro-Cuban beats, blended with a Tibetan song on the computer,” said Tyabji. “We didn’t have to do any fancy stuff. It just came together in a perfect match up of tracks.” Renaissance opens with the Dalai Lama’s contemplative words, repeated throughout the soundtrack, connecting each track like a cosmic string of prayer beads, “Every human activities whether in economy, whether in politics, or in medical science, or science, or any field, any activities; suppose all these different human activities helped humanity to achieve human desire. But some cases, human activities create more additional unnecessary problem. Why suffer? Why pain? Why unhealthy motivation? Why more unnecessary suffering?”

Meditative by nature, Renaissance the soundtrack is aural proof that there are shared elements within us, harmonious and true. Reflecting upon the lessons shared, Tyabji said, “For me, his most powerful message, the one that repeats on the album like a mantra, is that each of us is personally responsible to think about humanity, other human beings.”