What we’ve been up to

This is what Ramesha and I have been working on for the last month or so! It’s been a blessing to dive deeper into singing together and creating something like this together. And now we’re feeling determined to get back to doing more of this together!

It’s also been fun for me to compare the way we’re going about it now, compared to the way we’ve put out other CD’s over the years. Ramesha has invested a lot of time and resources in learning how to better promote and market our music and boy is it making a difference!

For example, I’m accustomed to having one or two parts to sing or play on the recording and then I’m done; but for this there were also background vocals to record and other aspects of the arrangement/production on which Ramesha wanted input from me and Christian (our recording engineer).

Then there was a day dedicated to videotaping ourselves singing the song four times through (as a duet, each of us solo, and close-up on the guitar) so that Bhaktan would have all those different video angles of us to use for the lyric video (which you just saw above). Plus all three of us spent time searching for additional images that we felt conveyed the vibration of the song, so it was a collaboration in that way as well.

Ramesha has also kept busy creating artwork and landing pages, and writing emails to let friends and fans know about it, and a gazillion other details (bravo, Ramesha!) Finally, we videotaped a little mini-documentary, in which we shared thoughts about the song and the project (see below).

Whew!

All in all, it’s been a eye-opening new experience for me and the feedback so far has been very positive. Of course, our hope is that many people will hear it and find comfort in the profound message of this song during these unsettled times. 🙏

Remembering our original plan

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!

Needed: a good night’s sleep!

Why?

Because Ramesha and I are recording tomorrow! Just one song, which will be released in time for the holidays, but still…it won’t do to start out already tired.

Wish us luck! 🎼

Ramesha’s deer friend

We often get deer passing through our front “yard” in the mornings. For a number of weeks there were a few fawns in the group, one of which seemed to have a real connection with Ramesha!

The fawn would come right up to our glass front door and gaze inside, not running away even when Ramesha would come and gaze back at him. It was really quite something, which I finally caught on camera but forgot to post. So here it is. 🦌

The things we take for granted

It’s almost midnight and the question of the hour is what to do when one’s lungs feel compromised by wildfire smoke, creating shortness of breath that makes it difficult to fall asleep.

We take things like breathing for granted all our lives and it’s quite a shock when it doesn’t work so well all of a sudden. I’m not feeling it as much as Ramesha is; prayers appreciated.

Time out

It goes against the grain, but once in a great while it has to be done…and we’re doing it tomorrow.. Namely, we’re consciously choosing not to do our Saturday sing-along in order to avoid a complete crash-and-burn.

I’m particularly proud of Ramesha for accepting the need for this small break. He’s been going at it full speed ahead for weeks now, and I can tell he’s starting to feel the pressure as he moves into the final week of his album launch.

It’s the culmination of close to a year of training, studying, investing, and overcoming obstacle after obstacle. He has stayed the course and is poised to reap the rewards. Yay, Ramesha!

P.S. Here’s the second lyric video, which I think is even more beautiful than the first one!

Riding the wave

Ramesha is riding a wave of growing momentum and increasing interest in the deeply devotional chanting album he’s about to launch.

This is the artwork for the second single, which also has a beautiful lyric video (thanks once again to our resident videographer-extraordinaire, Bhaktan!) that Ramesha will be releasing later this week. He calls it “a song for compassion” and that’s a perfect description of the vibration and message of this chant.

Ramesha’s joyous excitement is contagious! But, really, I’m just super pleased to see all his hard work and focus coming to fruition.

Bravo and very well done!

I’m feeling so proud of Ramesha tonight! He just released this amazing lyric video for the chant, Ever-New Joy, which is on his soon-to-be-released album: Breeze of Bliss.

It’s been a long hard slog, and a lot of work! But he’s hung in there and the end result is totally worth it!

💗💗💗

The apartment is blessed…

I’m paraphrasing the beautiful quote of Yogananda’s — “The instrument is blessed by that which flows through it” — and applying it to our little apartment.

Lots of music is flowing through our living space as all our music-making happens from home right now. Here are a couple of photos of Ramesha offering a mini-kirtan of devotional chants. It was beautiful.

One of my favorite days!

We’ve had a delightful time celebrating Ramesha’s birthday (we actually got an early start, with a fun gathering Sunday night). And it’s with a great deal of joy, love, and gratitude that I look forward to sharing another year of life together. 💖