Paris began his career as a musician in the 1980s as a rock & roll and rhythm & blues guitar artist,[2] performing with artists like Rusted Root's Jim Donovan, and Mark Karan of the rock band RatDog.[4] In 1994, Wynne took up Indian music and yoga, changing the direction of his music.[5] In 1996, one of the songs he co-wrote with Maura Moynihan, "Prayer for the Pure Land", won first place in the Songwriters' Association of Washington National Songwriting Contest. Also in that year, he met the Indian "hugging saint" Mata Amritanandamayi, known to her devotees as Ammachi or Amma, which inspired him to move to Marin County to study Indian music, shamanism, and yoga.[6]
Since 1998, Paris has primarily performed and recorded New Age and World Beat music with an Indian influence, performing kirtan chanting and playing both Western and traditional Indian musical instruments. He appeared on the first album of Krishna Das, Pilgrim Heart (1998), who is known for popularising kirtan music in the West. This album also featured Sting.[4]
Paris released his debut album, Ghandarva Café in 2004, which was followed by Emptiness and Ecstasy (2005) and Omspun, featuring Groovananda, in (2009).[6][7]
Paris is the creative director of Groovananda (which means "the bliss of the groove"),[10] a collective of musicians formed in 2005[11] the core consisting of Paris, Rick Allen (Def Leppard) and John "JT" Thomas (Bruce Hornsby Band),[10] who play rock-and-jazz-influenced kirtan.[12] On May 14, 2010, he and Groovananda were part of a benefit in Washington, D.C., for the Bonobo Conservation Initiative.[13] They have produced a single, Tara Om, with Krishna Das, and one CD, Omspun, released in 2011, both by Auspician Records. Besides the core band members, it featured Badal Roy, Perry Robinson, Mark Karan, Hans Christian, John Wubbenhorst and several others, and vocalists including Krishna Das and Dave Stringer.
Lovelight Yoga & Arts Festival
For the first time in 2016, Lovelight Yoga & Arts Festival[14] brought together multiple communities for a celebration of yoga, kirtan, flow arts, meditation, learning, and healing.[15]
Woodstock Music & Art Fair producer Michael Lang, musician Wynne Paris, and Kimberley Maddox co-produced the event, which brought dozens of musicians and accomplished yoga instructors from across the country to share their practice and knowledge with attendees of all ages.[16]
12Gebhardt, Sara (Oct 9, 2003). "Entrancing Chanting Holds Listeners; Former Rock Musician Uses Indian Music to Create Spiritual 'High'". The Washington Post, Washington, D.C.
↑Grooving with Jazz, World Beats and Spirituality by Patrick O'Shea, The Times of Trenton, Friday, July 29, 2005
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