Host Max Tucci catches up with singer/songwriter Radha Mehta at Sundance 2014!
About:
Radha is a results-oriented executive manager and business owner with over 11 years of in-depth experience in new business development and operations management across diverse industries including civil engineering and construction management, entertainment, information technology, politics, and finance. Radha is also an award-winning singer/songwriter, a frequent performer of the National Anthem at NBA games across the country, and currently serves on the Board of The Recording Academy (National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences).
Radha graduated from Duke University with three degrees including Computer Science, Economics, and Marketing & Management, and recently earned an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.
Da Vinci eloquently stated what the Renaissance Era stood for, rebirth and cultural innovation between the arts and science. RENAISZANCE, an inspirational and uplifting electronic dance / pop group comprised of brother-sister duo, Ravรฉ Mehta (producer) and Radha Mehta (lead singer) embodies that very spirit in their debut album RISE.
In this twelve song release, Ravรฉ overlays Radhaโs angelic wide-ranging vocals and melodies onto a rhythmic canvas of electronic dance and dubsteb.
โI Will Riseโ is the first single from the RENAISZANCE debut album RISE and serves as the albumโs theme song in honor of Nikola Tesla.
The album RISE is inspired by Ravรฉ Mehtaโs graphic novel THE INVENTOR, based on the true story of mystic inventor Nikola Tesla. Recognized as a top seller at its debut in San Diegoโs Comic-Con 2012, THE INVENTOR illustrates how Nikola Tesla won the epic AC/DC battle against Thomas Edison during the late 19th century, regarding Tesla as the true Father of Modern Electricity. Although Tesla later died penniless, many of his inventions and ideas continue to live on and are still used in todayโs technology, including in the creation of electronic music. In honor of Tesla, Ravรฉ produced RISE as an electronic dance concept album that speaks to THE INVENTORโs story of LOVE, HOPE and FREEDOM.
In addition to Teslaโs reemergence in the 21st century, โI Will Riseโ also plays to the very emotions both Ravรฉ and Radha have felt throughout their lives about never giving up and always believing in oneself, setting a tone of empowerment throughout the album. The songs featured on RISE purely have a life of their own scattered along the three dimensional continuum of love, hope, and freedom. This is where RISE takes the listener on a journey through the duoโs subconscious, skydiving from a childhood surrounded by naysayers only to land firmly on the ground as adults with the determination to charge ahead and eventually fly on their own.
The song โFriend In Meโ is an anthem on friendship and unbreakable bonds, while on the other extreme the song โFake New Real Youโ is an open letter pushing a loved one away to self-explore. The emotional roller coaster of love rises to its peak in โCanโt Let Goโ, dealing in oneโs inability to let a loved one go, and falls to its trough in โI Will Always Love Youโ about a heartfelt way of simply saying โweโre just not meant to be togetherโ.
Hope is the theme that resonates most with the duo as evident in most of their songs. Having watched their immigrant parents from India pursue a life-long dream of a better life in the U.S., they explore chasing their own dreams in the songs โAmerican Dreamโ and โFollow Your Heartโ. The tracks โThey Canโt Stop Meโ, โDid You Ever Thinkโ, and โMy Wayโ spotlight overcoming negativity while pursuing their aspirations. โTouch the Skyโ speaks to how unconditional love and freedom combined with responsibility empowers one to continually test and push their own boundaries.
Closing the album is the song โGrace and Gloryโ. Originally written as a tribute to NASAโs final space shuttle launch, the song celebrates how collectively we can achieve anything we put our hearts and minds to.