Founding member of Desert Dwellers & Liquid Bloom, Amani Friend has been a musician since his fingers could reach a keyboard or percussion instrument. A student of Kevin Zeornig’s since 1987 and a graduate of the College of Santa Fe's cutting-edge Contemporary Music Program, his studies in sound have traversed virtually every corner of the sonic spectrum. He has nearly two decades of music production experience in jazz, blues, dub, electronica, ambient, world music, yoga, and progressive dance music … always combining the diversity of the world with the most modern production methods.

Amani produces regularly with studio partners Treavor Moontribe and Rara Avis under the name Desert Dwellers. The roots of this “virtual band" come deep from within the electronic music gatherings taking place in the deserts of the Southwest. Because of their diverse tastes in music, it is impossible to peg the Desert Dwellers to any one genre; their musical expression ranges from full-on dance tracks to deep-hypnotic ambient spaces and yoga-dub music. The Desert Dwellers have remixed artists such as Deep Forrest and Karsh Kale; their music appears on White Swan Records, Six Degrees, Native State, Bedrock, System Recordings, Ritual Sounds, and their own label Desert Trax.

Amani began collaborating in the studio with the Shaman's Dream Music collective in 2005, working closely with Craig Kohland and Rara Avis on albums for Sounds True and soundtracks for instructional yoga DVDs on Acacia Media. Shaman’s Dream has been a main musical driving force in the yoga, healing and ecstatic dance scene of LA for over a decade. Their music has accompanied teachers such as Micheline Berry, Shiva Rea, Hemalayaa, Jiva Mukti, and Duncan Wong to name a few.

Amani and Rara have also forged another collaboration together called the Liquid Bloom project. In the truest spirit of musical alchemy these two artists blend their technical production skills with their understanding of the power of sound to heal and transform the listener. Their exploration in this field ranges from inducing theta brain states through music, to healing experiences on sound tables and vibrations in water. The music of Liquid Bloom also appears on White Swan Records.

Amani's vision as a graphic designer has followed a similar aesthetic pathway. Strong influences from both the digital and traditional worlds inspired Amani to create his own multimedia production company called Global Dragon in 1997.