There were two like-minded yogis, Robert Ortner & Wendy Simmons-Taylor, who happened to be bass players. In these strange times, they decided it was time to say what was on their mind and thus Peace at Om was created, a loving collaboration of groovy, uplifting music!
I had been teaching yoga at the Hindu Cultural Center of CT since 2012 and began playing harmonium with my friend, Venkusa (Venky) Kabadi, who sang and was well versed in mantra and kirtan. Thus, I began delving into kirtan practice. Some time passed and I decided to give Robert a call to see if he was interested in joining us on tablas. We started playing at various yoga studios.
Finally, I gave Robert a call to see if he was interested in collaborating on some original music. He agreed and then, Voila! The Pandemic reared its ugly little head! We didn't let that stop us. We traded snippets of music and lyrics, until we created our 1st CD and decided to self-name it with the name we had chosen for our group," Peace at Om," playing on the fact that we were finding Peace while confined to our Oms/homes! As the veil of the Pandemic lifted we continued to create our 2nd & 3rd CDs. It's been liberating and fun to actually use our love of music to convey what we want to say to the world!
We started playing gigs with the help of Butch Taylor, my husband, and then added various drummers to the mix.
