By Megan Mullen
Bittersweet, an RTA thesis project, held its Indiegogo launch party at The Baby G late Thursday night. The event saw four local musicians—Funké, Selené, Teenage Green Bean and Dumb Stupid Liars (DSL) perform.
Bittersweet is a visual EP which will comprise of three original songs and accompanying music videos performed by young musicians living in Toronto that explores the feeling of cultural diaspora shared between the artists. Bittersweet explores the disconnect or feeling of not belonging to a home culture that many immigrants and people of colour experience.
Bittersweet hopes to not only share the stories of these experiences but to celebrate them as well. The event was not only a launch party for Bittersweet and its crowdsourcing campaign, but also raised funds for the project itself.
The visual EP is the brainchild of five RTA students: Liam Brand, Liam Hart, Jonathan Matta, Marta Golova and Pegah Peivandi. Each song and accompanying music video will be mixed, mastered, filmed and produced in collaboration between the artists and the practicum group.
Each of the three artists to be included in the final project, Funké, Earlybird and DSL, are either from immigrant families or immigrants themselves.
The project will be premiered in a live performance art event at the end of the fall semester.
Pelvandi hopes that after hosting two more events similar to Thursday night’s, along with the help of the Indiegogo campaign, the group will have enough money to fully fund their thesis.
RTA thesis projects are often entirely self-funded, leaving many students at a disadvantage compared to their peers who might have extra financial support—many of whom can afford to hire industry professionals to help with their projects.
“It gets less campy and less fun that way,” said Peivandi.
To see more from Bittersweet, you can check them out on Instagram, or if you would like to help fund the project, visit their Indiegogo.
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