A Bollywood musician known for his versatile musical talents, Raghav showed a keen interest in music from a young age, mastering various instruments. He has been influenced by both Western and Indian musicians and continues to learn and grow in his musical journey.

Raghav Sachar is a Bollywood musician.

Raghav says music is in his DNA, as he started taking an interest in music at a very young age. He played harmony when he was just four years old. On every birthday, he got a new musical instrument as a gift from his parents. His father had a deal with him that, as the instruments were very expensive, he wouldn’t ask for anything else during the entire year. This carried on until his Bachelors in Music, which he did at Monash University in Australia.

Raghav says he has had a beautiful journey since his childhood with music. He loved wind instruments like the harmonica, recorder, saxophone, flute, etc. He was more interested in western music and western instruments, which were expensive and difficult to procure at that time. When others were playing Indian instruments like Sitar, etc., he was playing mostly western instruments. Raghav also played percussion instruments like drums. He possessed one of the best and latest keyboards of the early 90s, which had a touch display.

Raghav thanks his parents for being supportive and encouraging him, as they helped him stretch his horizons. His parents did not come from a music background, but as they were music lovers, they supported him. His father was in the army and then in the police. His father retired as a DGP. Raghav and his brother had an army-police type of upbringing.

Raghav says he has been influenced by many world-famous musicians, and there have been multiple gurus for him as he has learned to play multiple instruments. He was inspired by the likes of Kenny G, Garrett, Charlie Parker, and other great instrumentalists. Among the Indian musicians, he has always liked R.D. Burman and singers like Rafi and Kishore Kumar.

Raghav says music is an ongoing learning process. You keep on maturing. You never reach the end of learning music. He feels he is lucky to be making money from his passion. He thinks himself lucky that he does not have to get ready every day in a routine way, put on a tie, go for a nine-to-five job, and work under a boss. He is his own boss. He can practice and create music at his own will and pace. Raghav says translating what you have in mind into good music is not easy.

Talking about COVID, Raghav says nobody had seen such a pandemic coming and affecting the entire world. It has taken two good years from our lives. He says he had realized very early that this was not a regular virus, so he and his family packed their bags and moved to their bungalow in Igatpuri, about 100 km from Mumbai, as early as March 19, 2020, just before the lockdown. They remained safe there up until February 2021, secluded from the virus. They had gone back to Mumbai but came to Igatpuri again during the second wave.

On the other hand, he says the lockdown has been a beautiful time spent with his family. On the music front, too, it has been a great year. He had shifted his entire studio to Igatpuri and continued producing and releasing music from there. Considering the uncertainty of COVID, he has set up two parallel studios, one in Igatpuri and one in Mumbai. He thinks it is great that we have the Internet and OTT platforms; otherwise, what would he have done during the lockdown?

Raghav feels music is created by vibration when the lyricists and the musicians sit together. Music thus created has a feel about it. He thinks people say that old songs have a lasting impact as compared to new ones because they were recorded in a single session with all the musicians playing together. Nowadays, it is different as technology has taken over.

However, Raghav feels that digitalization is a great thing to have happened. The benefits of digitalization are that you can release your music instantly on social media platforms like YouTube or Instagram. He says he started as a multi-instrumentalist. But whenever he composed anything, he had to have someone arrange it, someone to engineer and program it. He had to wait for the singers. So he started doing everything himself. He has even sung in a female voice. He is also shooting and producing the videos himself. He has also started his own label and production house. Now, he says he is an entrepreneur and does not depend on anybody. He thinks he can keep creating music until he dies.

To the youngsters, his advice is to don’t lose focus and keep working on your music. Have a regimented routine, hang in there, keep practicing, and one day you will become a good musician.