Raveena Mehta, Artist and Singer, was born in Antwerp, Belgium and moved to Mumbai, India as a teenager. Having lived in two such diverse environments, cultural influences have shaped her perspective and have been large components of what shape her music and art practice. While living in Belgium, she became multilingual, speaking English, Hindi, French (basic proficiency) and Gujarati.
A note from Raveena
Moving to Mumbai in 2008, led me to consider the post-colonial sentiment amongst the population, leading to a more perceptive, culturally aware outlook. This inevitably began to influence my art and music.
In my art practice, I work with performance, moving image, sound and painting to consider the sociological impact of colonial legacies. My work deals an array of issues from finding ways to escape the weighty burden of prescribed gender roles as remnants of a colonial legacy, to assessing affect of neocolonial tactics in an increasingly “globalized” network in a bid to maintain and preserve power. An undoubtedly massive part of my life is music.
Having grown up listening to and learning from various styles, I have always been experimental in my work and interested in creating new sounds. I enjoy amalgamating Western and Indian styles that I have picked up on over the years to push the conventions.
Since the age of six, Raveena has worked with vocal coaches Suchita Parte and Kim Chandler in Indian classical and Western contemporary to discover the full breadth of her vocal range. This effort culminated in the launch of her first commercial music album, From Deep Within at the age of 12. Since, she has released two albums, six singles and 15 music videos primarily in the R&B/soul genre, as well as music incorporating Hindi and Urdu dialects. From Deep Within is a collection of 13 songs, of which five were launched with music videos, which were aired on leading international music channels such as Vh1, SS Music, Zee Trendz. Having experienced the workings of the Indian music industry since the age of 12, Raveena has been well versed with the different processes involved to see music through and have it heard.
Since then, Raveena has continued to pursue her music. She has collaborated with various artists and producers, Sandesh Motwani (Composer and Vocalist) Avitesh Shrivastava (Vocalist), Hitesh Prasad (Composer) Newfase (Producer), Stewert Epps (Producer) and Jerry Wonda (Producer) to name a few and has created various covers that have been published to Youtube. Raveena has continued to pursue her interest in the arts by completing her Foundation Diploma at Central Saint Martins School of Art and Design and a BA in Fine Art (Hons) from University of London, Goldsmiths.