Meet Atharva Phadke | Singer/songwriter, Guitarist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Atharva Phadke and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Atharva, can you tell us more about your background and the role it’s played in shaping who you are today?
Now based in Los Angeles, I am originally from Mumbai. I come from a family involved in law, medicine, police work so being a musician or rather having a strong inexplicable affinity towards music always felt a bit odd to me. Although that is the case, growing up my parents were always very curious and passionate about art, music, and literature. They have always enjoyed going to concerts, and theatre productions, and the ballet and other related things. But growing up in a family that is focused on such varied work I got to witness how difficult it is to do any job well. So I made a mental note quite young, that what it takes to be a good worker should come from within any one who takes up the work regardless of whatever work one were to choose, though implementing that learning only began once I took the guitar at 15. Being largely self-taught, music never felt like work, it never scared me and in fact was the only thing that would “listen” to me.

Even though no one from my family is a musician, neither my parents (Baba/Dad being a police officer and Aai/Mom being an advocate) nor my sisters (veterinarian, and a lawyer), my parents have always been aficionados of all art including theatre, dance, and music. I definitely credit them with letting my freak-flag-fly as a kid who would spend most of his time humming to himself struggling to figure out basic things like the need to do homework or grasp a widely spoken language like English (I was terrible at it). I could throw words around like Dyslexia, ADHD, Synesthesia, and the likes that people have often associated academically-struggling children with, but honestly, it doesn’t matter because I am now doing what I love wholly – music.

It really doesn’t matter if you have natural ability or not, what matters is what you do with it. There are uncountable examples of people pulling extremely brilliant feats through sheer practice and dedication. So, what does it matter, if it is your calling or your purpose, or not. You will keep working on it just the same, because you love it.

While singing is how I translate all music into something perceivable, I thoroughly enjoy songwriting as well. It’s definitely an acquired taste for me. What I love about songwriting is that there are absolutely no rules and you can stretch your “illogical muscle” as much as you want because it’s yours and you get to decide what you do with it. If it sounds good, then it is good music.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
So I have essentially been writing for about 12 years, and at first I never thought I would turn into a songwriter but there iss just something about coming up a new “equation” of music, which I think is the real fun of it. I am always fascinated when I hear an original song being played and the combination of music and words is something I know I would never have thought of myself and that excites me as a fan of music. While a song has its own allotted meanings, it shows its deeper shades in the Veldt (Ray Bradbury reference) only when once looked at carefully with an eagle eye. From afar, the veldt will always seem an all-encompassing green but it is only its songwriter that can decipher the shades present. Now I am aware that this might be an oversimplification of music, and starkly contrasts the set rules of our industry, but why not make interesting that which will eventually serve us great qualm at times. As a songwriter and composer, I wish to create rich tapestries of colours and shapes in this proverbial veldt. The process of this and the tools that I have at my disposal make this most exciting for me.

When I first started playing the guitar, it was possibly the most thrill I ever felt at that point and I found myself spending about 15 hours a day just playing and not stopping even as my fingers bled and I could feel the string cut into me (it is always the G string) I did not stop at times, and while I do not suggest anyone do that, it was at moments like these when I felt most connected to music, like it was in the air for me to grab at will. So I would instead suggest to chase that feeling of oneness with the music in the world, in your head, on your phone, and anywhere else.
In my opinion, it is the hardest easy thing to do with your time, which is the best way I can describe it.

At the start of 2020, I got a job as a guitar instructor at Adagio, which is in Mumbai. A week after that, I released my debut single – ‘The City’, before embarking on a 7-city tour around India for Motojojo (a dear friend’s startup based in Mumbai), playing 2 festivals during that time. The tour ended just as the world was bracing for Covid-19 and the following lockdown. Fortunately, I held the teaching job in the months of quarantine, working online.

My sophomore single – ‘Fear’, was released in August 2021, which encapsulated my struggles with anxiety regarding “people and the things they do and think.” It was picked up for a Weekly List by Rolling Stone India and a couple of other local music blogs like Livelee.

In 2022, I moved to Los Angeles to pursue a degree in Vocal Performance from Musicians Institute in Hollywood, where I work as Faculty now.

Still gigging around, I came to L.A. for school, and in the second-half of 2022 I put out 2 back-to-back singles as “sister-songs”, namely ‘Hygiene’ and ‘Soon’, both of which talk about different aspects of social class, loss, self-worth and caveats relating to propaganda.

In March of this year, I put out another single titled “Indian Man” – as a letter to al the common folk who suffer the consequences of the generations that rule the world prior.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
For me – books, films, plays, podcasts, music – provide us with information about whatever we want to learn.

Griffith Observatory and there are a bunch of museums that are pretty cool I think. Oh, and also The Greek Theatre.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
While I am eternally grateful to my family for letting me be the noisy singing kid all my life, and even letting me professionally pursue the only thing I have ever loved, I also say my thanks to Vijaylakshmi Sane.

Besides them, books, films, plays, podcasts, music – provide us with information about whatever we want to learn. There have been some from all of these things that have definitely made a dent in my mind, and still hold an undeniable place in my subconscious. These things that you watch, read, listen to, or even think of, will never truly leave you. They will forever change you as a person day-in and day-out, and I think that is absolutely smashing and I must never stop seeking out information from wherever I can access it.

Some good ones that were central to me once:

George Orwell –
1984 (this book and its message about social class, propaganda, and totalitarianism still holds true, close to 100 years after release)
Animal Farm (because the world functions on corruption and exploitation)

Ayn Rand – (Her books have always taught me to exercise a clean and honourable work ethic and the need to believe in one’s self and one’s craft, rest of the political jargon I do not care for.) Famous works: Atlas Shrugged, and The Fountainhead.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/atharvaphadkemusic

Youtube: https://youtube.com/@atharvaphadke934?si=Dg5P1eREBWI9DCb0

Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3JSHwpt2tvsaA0jL1CTm6A?si=Xre-7DkjT2OVd3hmUUr7Pw

Image Credits
Wei-hong Weng, Belle Shen