Dalai Lama review – Inner World: Music you'd find in a luxury spa

The Tibetan spiritual leader’s wise teachings at its core – on compassion, humanity, children and the future – are intended to effect positive change

The Dalai Lama has released his debut album, ‘Inner World’

The Dalai Lama made his Glastonbury debut in 2015 with a speech, and crowds singing him a happy birthday. Five years later, as he turns 85, he is releasing his first album.

Given that the proceeds from Inner World are being donated to educational charities, and that the Tibetan spiritual leader’s wise teachings at its core – on compassion, humanity, children and the future – are intended to effect positive change, I would love to recommend it. Sadly, I cannot.

Mantras chanted by His Holiness are rhythmically woven into wafting new-age concoctions of flutes, chimes and strings. The opening track, “One of My Favourite Prayers”, features the Dalai Lama reciting verse – by the Indian scholar, Shantideva – that expresses his devotion to helping others (“For as long as space endures, and for as long as living beings remain, until then may I too abide to dispel the misery of the world”). It’s set against a soothing backdrop of floaty pipes and free-form guitar-picking.

As an album to meditate or relax to, this is adequate, but there is little to distinguish the shapeless instrumentation from any you’d find in a luxury spa. Except, perhaps, “Ama La”, which endorses the special responsibilities of mothers in instilling empathetic values in their children, while showcasing Anoushka Shankar’s sitar-playing with a performance that is transporting in its gentle otherworldliness.

In 2015, the Dalai Lama was persuaded to make Inner World by his longtime student from New Zealand, Junelle Kunin, who co-produced the album with her husband. “Music can help people in a way that I can’t,” the guru responded. That, of course, depends on the music.