Amani Friend’s artistic vision spans the fields of music composition, sound design, graphic design, & visionary artwork … all rooted in world travel, ancient cultures, consciousness exploration, and the mastery of modern tools for artistic expression. At a young age Amani traveled the world extensively with his parents as they explored ancient civilizations. These early experiences created an innate understanding of the diversity of the world and the common threads that bridge us between the ancient and the future.

Amani has been participating in the electronic music movement since the early ‘90s, and has been consistently dedicated to bringing traditional forms of creative expression into the expansive field of possibilities found in modern technology. This vision of a unified field of artistic expression led to the formation of Global Dragon in 1998, a multi-media hub for creative and conscious design.

As a visual artist, Amani’s roots formed out of the expansive realms of electronic music flyers and posters which he first began designing in 1997. Over the years that followed, Global Dragon captured a unique iconographic style that transcended time while remaining grounded and accessible. Amani’s authenticity and vision comes from the vast personal experiences in the psychedelic realms of the mind … explored and shared with the collective fellowship found in the global dance culture.

For the past 15 years Amani has been prolifically producing and releasing music for electronic dance, chilled-out dub, intelligent electronic soundscapes, world grooves, ecstatic dance, yoga, and meditation. Along with a deeply talented group of collaborators, Amani releases music under the names Desert Dwellers, Shaman’s Dream, Liquid Bloom, and Variant Field … together having produced remixes for Jai Uttal, Deep Forest, Deva Premal, Karsh Kale, and many others.

Desert Dwellers consists of Amani Friend, Treavor Moontribe, Rara Avis, and many other music producers who all collaborate within the west coast and southwest network of Moontribe, a well-known group that is dedicated to outdoor full moon gatherings. Desert Dwellers initially grew out of the studio project between Amani & Treavor know as Amani vs Teapot … formed from connections made between Moontribe and the Cosmic Kidz in the deserts of New Mexico around 1998. A few years later, Amani & Treavor changed their name to Desert Dwellers, and Rara Avis became a key part of the productions in 2005. As a result of the diverse backgrounds of these producers, the music styles of Desert Dwellers range from energetic electronic dance tracks to funky intelligent downtempo to chilled out grooves with mysterious and deep spaces ….. music beyond borders. In general, Amani & Treavor collaborate on the uptempo and electronic bass music side of Desert Dwellers (Desert Trax, Ritual Sounds, Iboga Records), while Amani & Rara team up in creating the downtempo yoga realms (White Swan Records, Native State, Ball of Waxx).

Shaman’s Dream Music consists of Craig Kohland, Rara Avis, and Amani Friend. Together they have produced several traditionally rooted albums for Sounds True, and have scored music for an extensive library of yoga and martial arts DVDs on ACACIA media. Over the past six years they have created a vast catalog of original music geared towards yoga, meditation, trance dance and healing arts. Currently these three are working on a new project together called Yogi Tunes, an online music store and hub for yoga music and yoga teacher playlists.