Raveena encapsulates a divine authenticity that blooms in the form of soundwaves. Petals of Sappho and a love of many multitudes float in the space with an all-encompassing tenderness. These are the thoughts that first come to mind when reflecting on her grounding performance at Detroit’s El Club.
Starting the night off were the verdant sounds of Fana Hues and Isoke, the DJ. A voice of a siren, with Eros and Philautia, etched into every note, Hues and Raveena complemented each other’s energies and set the stage for a transcendental night.
Congregating on Mother’s Day for the show, both acts paid homage to the foundations built by their mothers and recognized those feminine energies who embodied maternal love, relation or otherwise that supported their development along the way.
Intentional, inviting, and illuminating can describe the energy Raveena exudes when singing. She welcomes a young attendee on stage to frolic alongside her, leads a collective meditation in melodic silence, and face-times her mother mid-set to serenade the muse to her track titled Mama.
Raveena creates melodies that wrap life’s sweetest moments, the bittersweet ones too, in a cinematic embrace. If you are looking for a place to start, you might try the song that introduced me to her work, If Only. For amorous days, Milk & Honey and her EP Moonstone. Beginning this EP is the song Headaches, the song intertwined closest to my heartstrings. I encourage you to sit with these songs on a sunny day or the quietest of nights and soak up the whispered ebullience residing in her voice.
