MONKHOUSE

Adam Plack Founder/Executive Producer

Adam is an internationally renowned, award-winning World Music composer and producer.

Born and raised in Australia, Adam was fortunate enough to be reared in a musical family; both his parents and sisters were classically trained instrumentalists, and a passion for music was deeply nurtured in the house. His father, having fled the Holocaust at the age of 6, revered the classics, and guided Adam to do the same. Adam began playing the violin and piano at an early age, and then was tutored in voice and classical guitar as a teen. He landed his first job as a musician at age 14, singing & performing covers of his teenage idols Neil Young, James Taylor and Cat Stevens, in local restaurants, and by 16 was playing jazz piano in bars in inner city Melbourne. 

As his music evolved, Adam eventually awakened to his natural ability to channel World Music. Inspired by his father’s culturally-diverse, and internationally-coveted, record collection, Adam had been heavily influenced by non-Anglo music from all corners of the world, and now that collection of sounds was beginning to make music inside of him.  By the time he hit his early twenties, the didgeridoo had found it’s way into Adam’s hands, and he had found the tool meant to express his authentic musical voice. The indigenous wind instrument was not well known or understood outside of the First Nations communities of Australia at that time, and the calling to share it with the world was born.

In 1991, Adam followed the flow of his creativity from Melbourne to New York City, arriving with a meager $40 in his pocket, and 2 carpet bags of didgeridoos on his shoulder.  He started performing on the hustle-bustle streets of Manhattan, at weekend farmer’s markets and under the echoing dome of Grand Central Station.  While still busking on the weekends, Adam, then known as the artist “Nomad,” managed to self-release four full-length albums featuring the didgeridoo on his own record label, Australian Music International. By 1995, his third album, the self-entitled “Nomad,” broke new ground in the International and World Music genre by going gold in Australia, then being nominated for an ARIA (Australian Grammy,) for Best World Music Album.  

On the back of the success of the Nomad album, Adam was called to return to his homeland, to participate in the great honor of being personally invited to collaborate and record a follow-up project with David Gulpilil, Australia’s foremost indigenous First Nations singer, dancer, and actor.  Transporting his studio from NYC to the outback of Ramingining, Northern Territory, Adam lived within the First Nations community for many months, as he and David birthed together the album “Songman”.  The first single from the album “With You”, reached #2 on the US Billboard dance charts and won the 2001 ASCAP Rhythm and Soul Music award.  It had always been Adam’s dream and ambition to be a bridge for the rich culture of indigenous Australia to reach an international audience so that it may be more widely enjoyed and respected for the rich musical culture it has always been, and he and David had done just that.

Returning to New York, Adam’s label, Australian Music International was offered a joint venture with Tommy Boy Records, making Adam at the center of the pulse of a growing World Music empire. That same year, Adam was invited to join forces with spiritual literary great Deepak Chopra, beginning a long standing partnership that has lasted for more than twenty five years.  Their first release, “A Gift of Love” featuring the poetry of Rumi read by celebrities such as Madonna, Goldie Hawn, Martin Sheen, and Demi Moore, still stands as one of the best selling albums ever recorded in its genre.  Adam and Deepak maintain their partnership to this day, and have made several highly-successful guided meditation and further poetry albums together. 

After collaborations with artists such as Philip Glass and Claude Challe, releasing a contemporary opera and scoring several film and television projects, Adam felt it was time for more introspection to discover his next inspiration, and took a break from his music to retreat quietly in nature, have a child, travel and enjoy the rewards of his gifts and efforts.

Returning from his sabbatical, Adam has become inspired to found MonkHouse, a conscious music-experience production house, and has returned to Southern California with a passion for bringing guided meditation and indigenous world music & tale to the symphonic arts. Adam’s mission has always been to use music as a spiritual tool for higher consciousness, and with that he is currently in production on his most ambitious project to date: a tour of philanthropic evenings of guided meditation, underscored live by the world’s most prestigious philharmonic orchestras, set in the symphonic cathedrals of the most cherished concert halls in the world, with his friend Deepak Chopra and other celebrity guests.