2025 Presenters

We're just two monkeys in love with Ram Aspiring to be like Hanuman, the beloved monkey deity, our greatest wish is simply to be of service. For us, our offerings are kirtan, music, and yoga. Our lives are devoted to singing kirtan, teaching Bhakti Yoga, and hosting spiritual retreats...all in the name of Sita and Ram. Jai Sita Ram! THE ROB AND MELISSA STORY When we met, which was before we discovered kirtan, we mutually agreed to place devotion at the forefront of our relationship. It was so important to us, we even created our first mantra (little did we know) to support it, “Be Nice and Have Fun!” As the seeds of devotion grew, we naturally gravitated toward the beautiful, heart-opening practices of Bhakti Yoga and kirtan. Soon, our devotion to Rob and Melissa: the couple, evolved into devotion to kirtan; to singing the divine names, mostly the name Ram. While simultaneously falling in love with kirtan, Neem Karoli Baba, and especially Hanuman, we began to contemplate a band name for our kirtan music. "Is Rob and Melissa a good name," we thought? Or should we have a more descriptive or spiritual name? Our desire has always been to keep kirtan accessible, so “Rob and Melissa” the band, seemed to work – especially for people new to kirtan. Simple, sweet, and accessible. Yet, is it too simple, we wondered? One day, while making our second CD, Tejase, we were playing around with logo ideas and wrote: Rob And Melissa When we looked down the line and saw R-A-M, both of us nearly burst into tears! It had been there the entire time and we hadn't noticed it before! On the outside, Rob and Melissa isn't an elegant Sanskrit name professing the spiritual nature of our music, but hidden within is the jewel, the name of God: RAM. Not to mention that Hanuman loves RAM more than anything in the whole world. Well, that pretty much sealed it for us and we've joyfully been Rob and Melissa ever since. Thanks for reading. Hope to sing with you soon! With love, Rob and Melissa