July 10, 2017, Bali, Indonesia,

A first-of-it’s-kind crowd-funded music activism project in Bali to encourage cultural understanding and positive dialogue between Middle East and Western Cultures on  a global scale has successfully reached is target of 5,000 Euros with less than two weeks until the deadline for the Kickstarter campaign.

“Interest in our project is surging, showing that our Bali community, when united can make a big impact with this and other arts and music projects,” said Ubud-based project leader and holistic practitioner Shervin Boloorian.

The project succeeded with support from over 100 individual backers with donations of five to 500 Euros, while garnering local, national and international press coverage  and public endorsements from over 15 Bali leaders, community groups and holistic businesses. These include; BaliSpirit Festival, Radiantly Alive Yoga, Ahimsa in Action, Bali Silent Retreat Center, ARMA Museum, Taksu Bali, Namaste Ubud, Akasha Creative Hub and New Earth Haven, the Yoga Barn, Swasti Eco Cottages, Ubud Community, Alchemy Raw Food Academy and Janet DeNeefe, founder and director of Ubud Writers and Readers Festival.

“Anyone who spends his time tackling the huge divide the world is currently experiencing with music and the teachings of Rumi is worth supporting,” said De Neefe.
“Now more than ever we need to focus on the fundamental importance of peace and compassion to find a solution to our current global dilemma.”

In addition, the project has also been featured in the Huffington Post, Buzzfeed, Jakarta Globe, Bali Advertiser and Ubud Community publications amongst others and has gained the support of top Rumi authority Coleman Barks who translated the best selling text “The Essential Rumi”.

Boloorian is also an Ex Washington DC US-Iran peace movement advisor, and a refugee raised in the UK and born in Iran. He says his personal evolution involved being an activist for peace as a policy strategist but he now tries to achieve a similar outcome  through alternative means with his conscious music. Boloorian is today recognised as a world class sound therapist and celebrated vocalist after founding the Bali Sound Healers Collective in 2012. He uses the power of music and sound to work with communities across the world to create positive change.

“Shervin Boloorian is doing the good, universalist work that Rumi would approve of. I celebrate his songs, his voice, and his intentions. May his tribe increase!” said Barks.

Boloorian is “overwhelmed” by the support he has received for his project so far and is showing no signs of slowing down efforts on the campaign entering the final two week stretch of his Kickstarter campaign.

“I am grateful to those who have invested, you all did your part and we couldn’t have done it without you,” he said.
“We’ve gotten the indication from people around us that this is something that they value and it’s showing me that we need to keep pressing.”

The project is centred around the completion of Boloorian’s latest album containing the world’s first Sufi Zikr chants in a Sub-Saharan African style and inspirational songs and ancient texts, drawn from texts of 13th century Sufi poet Rumi and all sung in Persian and Arabic. Boloorian explains his upcoming album “One with the Beloved” contains teachings of top selling Persian Poet Rumi who is suitably noted as the top selling poet author in the USA and is well respected throughout the West and the Muslim world. Rumi’s works translate into 23 languages. Boloorian says he uses Rumi’s message and teachings in order to bring urgent attention and appropriate reconciliation across nations to help unite two estranged cultures.

“Rumi’s voice crosses faith, nationality and ideology; he brings us back to the human experience to relay an alternative to what we commonly hear about Iran, Islam and the Middle East to as many people as possible,” he said.

Following the release of his new album scheduled for August, 2017, comes the launch of a world tour to incorporate his workshops, healing sessions, sound therapies, storytelling events, forums for dialogue, collaborations between local musicians and those from migrant or refugee backgrounds and more in cities across the planet.

“If the momentum is there, I see this as blossoming into a global collaborative,” predicts Boloorian.
“Music and the arts are agents of change and awareness, we haven’t seen them reach their full potential yet. If you have been on the fence, or felt like this project wasn’t going to go anywhere, know that we have gotten somewhere, we’ve gotten beyond our wildest dreams and we are going to keep going right till the very end,” he added.

We suggest you learn more about Shervin and his unique campaign at https://soundhealingbali.com/rumi-music-peace-project/ and invite you to join us on the necessary mission to support Peace with this innovative project.