<p>The Dalai Lama made a bid for music chart stardom on Monday, his 85th birthday, with the release of an album of mantras and teachings.</p>.<p>"<em>Inner World</em>" kicks off with the track "<em>One Of My Favourite Prayers</em>" and continues with the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader reciting meditations and sayings with accompanying music.</p>.<p>The record came about when musician Junelle Kunin, a student of the Dalai Lama from New Zealand, contacted him in 2015 with the idea - and much to her surprise he said yes.</p>.<p>"I thought I'd have to try and convince him," she told <em>Reuters</em> in an interview from her home in Auckland.</p>.<p>"That moment of recording him, my goodness I was shaking like a leaf before I went in there," she said.</p>.<p>Kunin did the initial recordings at the Dalai Lama's residence in Dharamsala in India.</p>.<p>Once back home, she worked with her husband Abraham and other musicians to produce music for the tracks.</p>.<p>"It's an incredible honour. But it was unbelievably, daunting like the trust and responsibility. It's immense," Abraham Kunin said.</p>.<p>On a promotional video for the album, when asked why he had agreed to take part, the Dalai Lama answers: "The very purpose of my life is to serve as much as I can."</p>.<p>The release comes five years after Patti Smith led the crowd at Britain's Glastonbury Festival singing Happy Birthday to him for his 80th.</p>
<p>The Dalai Lama made a bid for music chart stardom on Monday, his 85th birthday, with the release of an album of mantras and teachings.</p>.<p>"<em>Inner World</em>" kicks off with the track "<em>One Of My Favourite Prayers</em>" and continues with the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader reciting meditations and sayings with accompanying music.</p>.<p>The record came about when musician Junelle Kunin, a student of the Dalai Lama from New Zealand, contacted him in 2015 with the idea - and much to her surprise he said yes.</p>.<p>"I thought I'd have to try and convince him," she told <em>Reuters</em> in an interview from her home in Auckland.</p>.<p>"That moment of recording him, my goodness I was shaking like a leaf before I went in there," she said.</p>.<p>Kunin did the initial recordings at the Dalai Lama's residence in Dharamsala in India.</p>.<p>Once back home, she worked with her husband Abraham and other musicians to produce music for the tracks.</p>.<p>"It's an incredible honour. But it was unbelievably, daunting like the trust and responsibility. It's immense," Abraham Kunin said.</p>.<p>On a promotional video for the album, when asked why he had agreed to take part, the Dalai Lama answers: "The very purpose of my life is to serve as much as I can."</p>.<p>The release comes five years after Patti Smith led the crowd at Britain's Glastonbury Festival singing Happy Birthday to him for his 80th.</p>