In the Bleak Mid-Winter

In case you are missing the wintery mood…

My version of the English Christmas carol, ‘In the bleak Mid-winter’, emerged at a time when I had just returned from the West after overdoing my immersion in Indian culture – classical music, mantras, philosophy, society – to the point that enough was really enough. To my surprise, on my return to the West, I felt myself being pulled towards the sacred music of my roots and the choral works, celtic songs and christmas carols I had grown up with. Having bought into the idea that the only really ‘spiritual music’ was that of the East – I discovered that the music of my past also contained a longing, a silence and a magic. Not only this – it was also part of my very own cells and bones and resonated with a deeper, more essential part of me.

This video, like all my creative endeavors, just kind of ‘fell together’… and yet… now it has emerged, it seems, to me at least, to express an element of the deeper message of ‘Christmas’. The innocence of the child, the silence of the deep winter, the harsh beauty of emptiness… and the most important message of all; in the end, the only thing we really have to give, to others – and ultimately to ourselves – is love.

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Tanmayo grew up in the north of Scotland and started to learn classical violin and piano when she was 7. In her early twenties she dropped her classical studies completely and instead, immersed herself in the Celtic music traditions. Around this time she also discovered she could sing. She came to Pune in 1994 where she took sannyas. Whenever she was there she played in Buddha Hall for the White Robe meditations and Music Groups, together with musicians like Prem Joshua, Manish Vyas, Bindu, Nivedano and Chinmaya Dunster. She now lives in Cologne, Germany with her musician partner, Prem Parijat. Lost and Found is her 3rd CD. www.tanmayomusic.com