The Dalai Lama has announced his debut album. Not some psych band called the Dalai Lama, the actual Dalai Lama. Inner World is an album collecting various chants and mantras from the Tibetan spiritual leader, setting his words against music for the first time. It’s out on 7/6, coinciding with the Dalai Lama’s 85th birthday.

While it seems somewhat surprising that the Dalai Lama has never been recorded in such a way, the album only arose out of a passion project from Junelle Kunin, a practicing Buddhist in New Zealand. During a stressful work day, she, too, was surprised to find that there wasn’t a full-fledged album featuring the Dalai Lama’s teachings against some meditative music. So, she set about trying to make one herself. According to AP, Kunin met with the Dalai Lama and recorded conversations with him, then her husband Abraham worked on the music to complete the album.

“I’d never heard him speak like this,” Kunin told AP. “He really was so excited … he actually proceeded to explain to me how important music is. 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.”

Finished over the last five years, Inner World features 11 tracks and contributions from other musicians — including sitar player Anoushka Shankar, daughter of Ravi Shankar. Net proceeds will benefit the Mind & Life Institute and Social, Emotional, And Ethical Learning (SEE Learning), an education program the Dalai Lama developed with Emory University.

Along with the announcement, the Dalai Lama has shared a song called “Compassion.” Check it out below.

Inner World is out 7/6.