Daniel Ladinsky

Hafiz
Hafiz of Shiraz (c.1315-1390) known as "The Tongue of the Hidden Mysteries," was a Persian poet and mystic whose life and works reached the height of spiritual attainment. Hafiz has influenced generations of renowned writersand artists in the East and West with his verse devoted to revealing the mysteries of human and divine passion on the path to union with God.

Daniel Ladinsky
Daniel Ladinsky was born and raised in the Midwest. For six years he made his home in a spiritual community in western India, where he worked in a rural clinic free to the poor, and lived with the intimate disciples and family of Meher Baba. Daniel has published three volumes of Hafiz' poetry in translation: The Gift, The Subject Tonight Is Love, and I Heard God Laughing. His new book is an anthology titled Love Poems from God (Penguin, 2002).

Stevin McNamara
Stevin McNamara has been playing music since the age of nine and has been recording music for more than 25 years. He has composed and performed the introductory music on hundreds of Sounds True's audio-learning courses. (We can't tell you how many customers call us and ask, "Who is that guitar player on the beginning of your CDs"?) Stevin is in the unique position of being an accomplished composer/musician and a world-class recording engineer. This gives him total freedom in any recording environment. Born in South Africa, Stevin started learning piano and guitar at the age of seven. He played solo and in bands all the way through high school. At the age of 20, Stevin moved to the United States, where he had more formal training at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. He has been involved in music ever since.Although Stevin grew up with the sounds of African music, he also discovered Indian music in the early 1970s and studied the sitar with Ram Chakravarty of Benares, who was professor of music at Wesleyan College in Connecticut. This diverse exposure to such a broad spectrum of music, ranging from world to pop, has contributed to the unique musical style Stevin has developed throughout the years.In the late 1970s, after spending considerable time as a session musician in recording studios, Stevin became fascinated with what was happening "on the other side of the glass," namely the recording process itself. This passion developed into a highly successful career as an audio engineer. He has worked in the fields of popular music, world, folk, jazz, and film and television in top studios in South Africa, England, and the United States. Stevin is perfectly at home in any state of the art recording facility or live sound scenario, even at stadium concert level. He is qualified to teach audio engineering at the college level. Stevin has worked with well-known producers such as Robert John "Mutt" Lange and a huge spectrum of recording artists from Paul Winter to Tina Turner, from Bryan Adams to Zakir.