“Music has the power to penetrate the heart and go beyond ideas of right and wrong doing.” ~Rumi
We stand for the One-ness of Humanity.
Nur Jihan
Egyptian born and native Arabic speaker, Nur Jihan loved to sing and write songs since she was young. She became influenced by various artists and
spiritual-musical practices, such as Krishna Das, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan,
Jaya Lakshmi, the Dances of Universal Peace (DUP), Sufi Zikr, Qawwali, and Indian
Kirtan. Inspired by the power of devotional chants, she started creating meditative
chants and dances of her own to honor the various global influences that have touched her heart.
Nur Jihan is a certified dance leader for the Dances of Universal Peace, founder of
the South Bay Chant Circle, and an initiate of the Sufi Inyati and Ruhaniat
traditions. As a founding member of Caravan El Noor, she is lead vocalist,
harmonium player and melodic/lyric originator of many of the chants and
devotional songs on the band’s CDs caravanelnoor.com.
Nur Jihan works as a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and incorporates life coaching, internal family systems and mindfulness meditation in her practice.
Please check out amystichaven.com.
Sarmad
An initiate of the Sufi Inayati Order, Sarmad has had a passion for percussion since a very young age and has been formally studying Indian, African and Middle Eastern percussion for over twenty-five years. He travelled to Guinea West Africa in 2001 to study with Djembe Master Mamady Kieta and has studied tabla with Indian music Master Pandit Ashwin Batish and Steve Robertson.
Sarmad also enjoys playing guitar and bass and occasionally writes his own songs. Sarmad is the drummer/percussionist for Caravan El Noor and has performed on djembe, tabla, doumbek, frame drum, gongs and a wide array of percussion instruments with a variety of acts including Ashwin Batish’s Sitar Power Band, Panther Percussion African Drum and Dance Troupe, and was the tabla player for the Living Devotion Kirtan Band for ten years. Sarmad enjoys offering sound baths using gongs Tibetan bowls, synthesizers and other instruments.
We have a unique opportunity in the world today. We can draw on the strength of our diversity while simultaneously unifying our identity beyond individual, nationalistic religious divisions and grow to an identity of, when asked, ‘Who are you?’, we are responding to that question with, ‘I am Human first’.
Our goal is to grow and expand this influence and message across the globe through our music and
our work, to help in the paradigm shift of coming together and raising human consciousness.