I started playing my first musical instrument at the age of 4. My father made an interesting deal with me – I would be gifted one musical instrument on every birthday. The catch? I couldn’t ask for any other gifts all year round.
I agreed :)
At seven, I learnt the recorder (English Flute) and got distinctions in grades 5 & 6 from the Trinity College of London. I started playing the drums at nine, and won Best Drummer award in the All-India Junior segment. While playing the drums I used to miss melodic content so I soon began instrument multi-tasking – playing harmonica with one hand and drums with the other, which was a funky act and looked very impressive. I won a lot of awards performing in inter-school and semi professional competitions thereafter. At the age of 15, I was chosen by the government of India as their representative in Russia for a cultural exchange program.
What was probable at 4, became a certainty as time passed. I had the talent, focus and vision to reach out to the world through my music.
Guitar & Keyboard playing in school, got me into a rock band - “Canzona”. We toured all over India and played at key places like the IIT institutions, BITS Pilani etc. My passion for music also led me into the Delhi Music Theatre for many musicals such as “Grease”, “Oliver Twist” etc.
I went on to study Music & Composition at Monash University in Australia. I did my majors in Jazz & toured South-East Asia with Monash. My main instrument was Saxophone and minor instrument being flute. I specialized in music composition & performance. I grew by leaps and bounds in the three years of my education at Monash and was awarded an Inaugural Scholarship in my second year being the only expatriate in the music department to have ever receive this honor.
Every vacation I would come down from OZ to play in Jingles and albums with friends in Delhi... in one of my trips back home, Shantanu Moitra asked me to record with the unique Shubha Mudgal, where I was spotted by Mr. Atul Churamani of HMV and offered an album deal with their record label.
Once I finished my education, I shifted to Bombay and released my debut album titled "For The First Time" on HMV records to critical acclaim. As the name suggests – it was the first time such an album was made fusing Indian melodies and musical structures with predominantly western styles and musical instruments.
Being a very detailed and particular person by nature I have always been involved in every level of music making, which led me to make my own home studio that allows me to have complete creative and technical control.
Now I make a composition, arrange the music, program the arrangement, record live instruments, sing and finally mix and master my songs on my own, in my studio. My Dad nick named me “Orchestra (One Man Band)” at the age of 4. Surprisingly I live up to it :)
I love performing live. Touring for shows across the world is a part of my life that i thrive on, as instant public adulation gives me an adrenaline rush and pushes me to create new and better music each time.
I love collaborating with other artistes who are blessed with so much talent. I have so far played along with many prominent personalities nationally and internationally in the field of music like Kunal Ganjawala, Kailash Kher, Shreya Ghoshal, Salim Suleman, Vishal Shakhar, Sivamani, Louis Banks, Niladri Kumar, Sunidhi Chauhan, Shankar Mahadevan, Taufiq Qurashi. My travels have taken me from Singapore and Thailand to Germany, Russia, Japan, America, Dubai and Madame Tussauds (U.K.) and I wish to reach out to the rest of the world and touch one and all through my Music.
I have been breaking the musical barriers and carving a niche for myself. In 2009, I formed my own record label called “Raghav Sachar Music”. My albums “Charming Lootera” and “Om Jai Jagdish” have been released through my own label. Now I have keen and talented artists who wanna release their works through my label and I am thrilled to help my fellow musicians.
With my knowledge and exposure to both Indian and Western music, I can say that I am a “World Musician” and my music can be termed as a blend of different cultures - I would like to name it “Cultural Amalgamation”
