As long as I can remember, I've been aware of the power of music to heal.
In my own compositions, I draw upon modal systems that were created not just for beauty, but for their power to move the soul — systems like the Persian dastgāh, the Arabic maqāmāt, and the Indian ragas. Each mode carries a unique emotional signature — designed to uplift, to transform, to awaken.

But this understanding — that music can heal — isn’t new.
It’s as old as humanity itself.

In ancient Greece, music was inseparable from medicine. Pythagoras spoke of musical intervals as keys to cosmic harmony. Plato believed certain modes could cultivate virtue. Physicians used music in their treatments — to restore balance to body and mind.

Centuries later, music therapy flourished and was seen as a true branch of medicine during what’s called the Golden Age of Islam. Many physicians like al-Razi and Ibn Sina integrated music into the practice of healing — not just symbolically, but practically. We can see that in hospitals from Damascus to Cairo, musicians were employed to ease the suffering and support the recovery of patients. And the results were astounding!

When we look to the East – we see that in China, Confucius taught that music could align a person with the moral order of the universe. And ancient medical texts described how musical tones correspond to the organs and the elements. In India, the raga system offered a map of human emotion and time. Certain ragas were composed specifically to be sung at dawn, or in the monsoon, or in moments of grief or joy.

In Tibet, chanting, bells, and resonant bowls were used for rituals and meditation — and also as medicine.

And beyond courts and clinics, the healing power of music has been kept alive in Indigenous traditions across the world. The incredible depth of knowledge of how sound acts within the listener is truly astonishing. 

In many African cultures, drumming is used to restore harmony — in the individual and the community. Rhythm becomes an anchor, a way of calling the soul back home. Among Native peoples of the Americas, song and chant connect the physical and spiritual worlds. The heartbeat of the drum mirrors the heartbeat of the earth. In the Andes, healers use flutes and sacred songs to clear energy fields. In the Amazon, icaros guide the patient and healer through journeys of transformation. And in Indigenous Australian traditions, the didgeridoo has long been used in sound healing — its deep vibration realigns body and spirit.

We see all around us today that modern science is analysing, explaining, and implementing ancient wisdom. Brainwaves are measured to show how music activates regions of the brain associated with memory, emotion, and empathy. Music therapy is taught in schools and practiced in hospitals, trauma centers, and hospices — it’s helping people live, cope, and even recover.

Although now we can speak of music’s effect on neural entrainment, dopamine release, and vagal tone — but for those connected to their traditions, passed from generation to generation by an unbroken chain of transmission, this power has always been known and practiced.

As for the work I’ve dedicated myself to for many years now, I can tell you that among the comments from listeners that I treasure most are those that say my music has transformed them… lifted them from a place of darkness to a place of light.

That’s what it’s all about, sharing those sounds that can bring us home to ourselves.