New Release – Keep Dreaming by Charu Suri
Charu Suri was born in South India and has been a concert pianist since she was nine years old. She came to the United Stated for college and has been making a name for herself in the jazz community ever since. Her new release ‘Keep Dreaming‘ will be out on April 30th.
What inspired you to write ‘Keep Dreaming’?
“After much sadness in 2020, I wanted to write an upbeat happy song that would inspire people to just dance and get on their feet. No matter how much we have all suffered because of the pandemic, that doesn’t mean we should stop dreaming of a better future, and that’s how ‘Keep Dreaming’ was born.”
“I wrote it to bring back the golden years of jazz with a fun swing element to it. The lyrics also reflect optimism because who wants to hear more about sadness? We’ve had enough! As a kid, I used to listen to a lot of Oscar Peterson and Bill Evans, and I also wanted to write a song that would pay homage to those great artists and be in that tradition.”
Is it autobiographical?
“The song is definitely autobiographical. Every time I go through a rough patch, there would be people (friends, family, fans) who would send something positive to uplift me and make my day. They encouraged me to keep dreaming!”
“Numerous times during the pandemic, when I used to post a jazz piece a day on my social channels, I’d get messages from listeners saying how much they enjoyed everything and were looking forward to my music. That positivity really encouraged me to keep going, even though artists were getting hammered by all the venue closures.”
“I am the kind of person who can’t dwell on negative energy, it stifles my creativity. I love optimism and upbeat energy and positivity and I wrote this song in part to cheer myself up!”
What are you hoping to achieve with this release?
“I want people to play it often and have a sense of joy and be inspired to dance! It really is all about feeling good and having some positive energy to get through your day, during a time that we all badly need some. The artwork was also designed to capture a feeling of floating on clouds and dreaming of a faraway place, far from reality, so hence the soft colors and cloud/ocean-like atmosphere and a piano rising above it all.
“The singer on my track, Danielle Erin Rhodes, has sung all the songs from my Songbook album – this is a continuation of the tradition.”