Music can be a unifying force that has the ability to transcend the boundaries of nationality, religion and language. It can also bring together a seemingly random assemblage of people — all in celebration of and appreciation for a beautiful arrangement of sounds.

Salaam, a band based in Bloomington, Indiana, focuses on music of the Arab world and aims to introduce it to an audience that reaches far beyond the Arabian Peninsula.

NPR writes that Salaam “subtly transposes a genre of music few Americans are even aware of into a sonic realm that feels enchanting and exotic, while still strangely familiar.”

Salaam consists of husband and wife duo Dana El Saffar and Tim Moore, and a rotating cast of musicians. While the music they play hails from the Middle East, that wasn’t El Saffar’s original focus when she began studying music. She’s a classically trained violist.