continued...

A teacher at school quickly spotted that she seemed to react unusually passionately to anything musical... and after landing both the leading roles of the Angel Gabriel and the Virgin Mary in 2 consecutive infant nativity plays, she started to learn the violin and piano.
She remembers spending hours and hours playing the piano... finding a medium where she could somehow express things vaster, deeper, more unfathomable, than her tiny form could even guess at.
Later, the violin too, (after the excruciating first scratchy years) became a source of joy and passion... and a ticket to a fun and sociable world of playing music with others. 

And thus her youth was filled with orchestras, symphonies, quartets and lots of practice. She loved the massive sound of the symphony orchestra... the feeling of being part of a huge throbbing whole. She also loved to play the soul wrenching violin solos of composers like 'Bloch', or the deep yearning pieces of Grieg or Beethoven. Music had already become an opening to the intense, the deep and a way to melt and disappear. 

In her early University days, another world opened up as she mixed with an eclectic bunch of young people from around the globe. African music, Tibetan monk chanting, Gothic Bands, Bulgarian singers, Folk and the jazz songs of Ella and Billie started to enter her play list and thus, her horizons along with her ears, started to stretch and expand beyond the world she had known up until then. 

However, it was only after a 3 month journey in India that things really changed. On her return, she dropped out of the classical world completely... pulled instead by the wild, mysterious tunes and melodies of her own Celtic heritage which had, until then, remained untouched inside. 

At this time, Scotland was experiencing a Celtic revival and in the pubs and bars of it's capital, there could be found a vibrant 'music' scene. Nearly every evening, Tanmayo would sit in the different bars, listening, then slowly, playing... finding slowly but surely that her fingers could translate all the tiny notes and nuances that her ears were hearing. From being tied to written music,Tanmayo found that suddenly she could play by ear, she could improvise... and what a freedom that was! 

A few chance encounters led her to the 'Scottish Storytellers' and from there, along with her musical fiddling sister, Kate, she quickly became part of their scene - playing music for the shows, for storytelling festivals and then, later, becoming a storyteller herself. These were magical times, where music, song, poems and ballads filled her heart, her soul and her imagination. 

It was around this time that Tanmayo also discovered she could sing. Singing along in an evening sing-song around a camp fire in a crumbled village at an international youth work camp in Spain, suddenly everyone went quiet... and only her voice remained. Everyone listened... in silence... 

From that day on in the camp she was known as 'La Voz de las Flores'... the voice of the flowers. 

Around  the year 2000, she spent a few seasons at the Osho Commune International in Pune and it was there, after stepping on the path of Sannyas, that she came in contact with Indian fusion masters Prem Joshua and Manish Vyas. She was amazed when they invited her to play with them and thus started a love affair with Indian music -it's ragas and wonderful complex rhythms.

Through her connection with these 2 fusion masters, she found herself catapulted onto the world stage...touring with them in the US, Asia and Europe.

Although she enjoyed the touring life and the chance to play on the stages of the world, slowly slowly her own flow of creativity was awakening. Her first album, 'Dust at your Feet' was composed while she was living in Singapore. Her Celtic Christmas album found her honing her composition and production skills and a few years later after becoming involved in the 'Path of Love' process her 2nd collection of songs and prayers, 'Lost and Found' appeared.

The minimalist album '...I lay me down' represents yet another new direction and deepening in her musical journey. Here she explores her voice in more detail... and has brought her songs back to simple basics with a light 'jazz' edge.

Wishing to express yet deeper stirrings in her heart and finding the world of 'song' not fitting anymore, she then found herself pulled in another direction - into the world of poetry and soundscape. The CD  'In Quietude' was born out of  a period of blessed 'silence'... where a "blanket of quiet - thick yet soft" descended unasked into Tanmayo's life. From this space, a series of poems appeared which slowly made it known that they wished to be spoken and shared with the world. 

And then, on turning 50 she was suddenly and passionately taken by the world of film! Her first short film, 'Bayadere' based on a poem by the German poet, Goethe is now released.

Forever widening and expanding her creative vista, in the past few years she has created a collection of mystical paintings,  short videos on You tube that explore the inner world of the soul and beyond, started playing both electric guitar and the low irish flute... and has expanded her creative talents to creating healing soundtracks and guided meditation music for coaches, guides and healers...

 Her next dream is to work on a large scale creative film production, using the incredible power of cinema - visual, voice, story and music - to touch, heal and open people to the untapped mystery and vastness that lies within us all. 

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