It didn’t occur to me while I was in the store, but these cookies really are perfect for Ramesha and me–not because we’re sweethearts, but because we’re also vanilla and chocolate! 😊
In fact, the cookies brought to mind how we described ourselves when we first toured as the Harmony Duo back in 2006:
Bhagavati (Sharon) and Ramesha (Fabio) Nani are professional musicians who formed The Harmony Duo soon after their marriage. At that time they realized that—being of different races, from different countries and cultures, speaking different languages, but sharing spirituality and a deep love for music—harmony was, and is, the foundation of their life together.
Their programs affirm and celebrate the underlying harmony of all races, nations and cultures. Although written by a single composer, the pieces reflect a diversity of countries, centuries, and moods. Throughout them all, however, one feels the universal thread of joy and inspiration.
So, yeah–we pretty much embody the principle of “harmony in diversity” and that’s why I got such a kick out of my unconscious cookie selection.
So, we started thinking about creating a Patreon account almost a year and a half ago.
We wanted to put more focus on the making music part of our lives, as opposed to the teaching, directing, coordinating, managing side of things.
But it felt rather complicated and like we had to do all these things in just the right way, and — sure enough — it ended up falling by the wayside, even though we had most of the pieces in place.
Fast forward a year and a half and we realized it was time.
Why?
One motivator is that during Spiritual Renewal Week we were greeted by so many devotees from all over the world who expressed over and over again how much they appreciated seeing us on video. And we realized most of those videos are just from Sunday service or larger concerts; we haven’t beentaking the time to make and share our own videos, with our own choice of songs and perspective.
But the biggest motivation has come as one of the many gifts of my cancer experience.
When I started treatment I had to consider the necessity of letting some of my activities go, because I didn’t know whether I would be laid out from side effects or how much additional rest I would need, etc.
As it turns out, my energy held up and I never did have to let go of hardly anything, other than not directing larger groups of singers (but that was more of a COVID precaution, since my immune system is compromised at the moment).
But even considering the possibilities brought thoughts and ideas to mind. And then there’s the reality of the bone marrow transplant, and the fact that we’ll be completely out of commission for a couple of months.
All of which is forcing us (in the best way possible) to not just talk and wish that there were more people taking on responsibility in the music ministry, but to take action to make it happen, and on a rather strict timeline!
Which leads to the final, very important fact: that my cancer diagnosis has helped me to better embrace the concept of mortality and the fact that we really aren’t all going to be here forever. Which in its turn has prompted some real soul-searching, especially in terms of wanting to be sure we’re serving Master, Swamiji, and Ananda in the absolutely best way we can.
You see, soon after Ramesha and I got married we were having lunch in Assisi and had one of those “aha” moments. Of course, we knew perfectly well that we both sang, and that between us we played guitar and violin and flute and keyboard. But we suddenly knew we should be a duo; that we actually were a duo — The Harmony Duo. Two people from different countries, different cultures, different races, and different mother languages, who nevertheless were in harmony — musically and otherwise.
When we came to the States in 2006 (supposedly for one year — ha ha), we spent a few months giving Harmony Duo concerts at Ananda communities up and down the west coast. When Swamiji got word of it, he conveyed the message that he thought we should tour the USA. And we were going to do it, too! We gathered maps and lists of meditation groups and started planning our route.
But we ended up Ananda Village, then Ananda Los Angeles, and back to the Village — all of which has been wonderful and vitally important to our spiritual growth. And yet…we feel there are some things yet unfinished, for which we will need to be able to extricate ourselves for a few months at a time and not be responsible for all the day-to-day musical activities of one particular community.
In addition, for several years now we’ve been wanting to establish more communication and collaboration among the various music ministries throughout the world, without making much progress. But we feel that we must find a way, especially considering the vital importance of the music in helping to keep the vibration of Ananda uplifted, harmonious, and united, no matter how large it grows.
So, all of this adds up to the reason why we’ve decided to join Patreon and see where it leads us.
We’re having a great time singing together — just for fun — once a week!
Hopefully it will turn into a lot more music-making by the Harmony Duo, like when we first returned from Europe and were performing together all the time.
This red bud tree pretty much took my breath away the other day. Especially together with the contrasting Japanese Maple, the green pine trees, and deep blue sky, all framing the beautiful Temple of Light.
I’m so grateful for the beauty of this patch of the planet that I get to call home!
Plus, Ramesha and I finally made another fun video, also in honor of Earth Day. Enjoy!
Ramesha and I are in the process of launching a new project together. Except that I’m realizing it’s actually kind of an old project, in the sense that it’s partly a resumption of what we thought we were going to do when we arrived from Switzerland in 2006.
Shortly after our Assisi wedding (two years earlier) we felt guided to unite our energies also musically by becoming an actual ensemble. We decided to call ourselves the Harmony Duo as a way of acknowledging and honoring how we were different (in race, nationality, language, and background) yet completely harmonious.
As we started working on our current next steps I felt compelled to search house and office until I located this little notebook, filled with the plans we had for the duo back then.
And we did do some of it…before getting caught up in lots of other wonderful life adventures. Now we’re feeling guided to tune back into those original plans…and we’ll see where it leads us!
