Based in New York City, Laraaji began playing music on the streets in the 1970s, improvising trance-inducing jams on a modified autoharp processed through various electronic effects. Influential British musician and record producer Brian Eno saw him playing one night in Washington Square Park and invited him to record an album of ambient music at his studio. Laraaji went on to release a prolific series of albums for a wide variety of labels, many of which he recorded himself at home and sold as cassettes during his street performances. In recent years his profile has enjoyed a renaissance via a series of new and reissued recordings on the All Saints label, as well as worldwide performances, laughter meditation workshops and deep listening sessions.