(not necessarily in that order)
…without leaving Ananda Village!
A group of us gathered to sing Swamiji’s Italian songs, eat bruschetta and other Italian-themed goodies, and listen to stories about time spent in Italia–at Ananda Assisi itself or as part of small or large singing groups over the years.
Ten or so of us shared our living-in-Italy experiences and it made me rather nostalgic.
As I’m sure I’ve mentioned before, I spent a couple of years living in and touring Italy with the Ananda Singers — a group of eight singers (six Americans, one German, and one Italian). It was both wonderfully expansive and incredibly challenging, and I would do it again in a minute.
One of the fun experiences that I had almost completely forgotten about was our appearance on Italian TV. I couldn’t tell you anything about which station (it obviously wasn’t RAI1!), but we were in the town of Vasto on the beautiful Adriatic coast. Looking at photos of Vasto, this cathedral seemed familiar; I know we entered a church to reach the TV studio.
Anyways, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Bhaktan had uploaded this video of our performance. I can hardly believe this was almost twenty years ago! Finding it now feels particularly poignant because we had to cancel our trip to Europe this year and don’t know when we’ll be able to go. I really miss it.
No hint of anything interesting to write, so I’ll share a beautiful recording of one of Swami Kriyananda’s most well-known songs instead.
Long I’ve called You, my Lord,
Long I’ve called You.
Many years I have longed for Your sight;
Bathed the darkness with tears of devotion,
Offered candles in prayer to Your light.
How much longer, Friend,
Must I cry Your name?
I am Yours, ever Yours.
Will You come?
Sharing yesterday’s story has me thinking a lot more about my Italy touring experience. That brief period of my life was filled to overflowing with blessings but also fraught with intense spiritual growth. I hope to distill some of that experience into future blog posts, but for now I’ll just share a photo. Can you believe how young we all were?!?
