Saakshi Bhadwaraj (22’) is a student at Amador who has committed the majority of her life to singing. Saakshi proves this talent of hers to the world by performing for audiences both online, through streaming platforms and social media platforms such as Instagram, and offline by singing in the Donversity rally at school. 

Starting with classical, carnatic music, Bhadwaraj has perfected the basics of singing and wanted to expand her range by singing bollywood and pop songs. With her parents supporting her love for singing, her interest in the art has only increased over the years. 

Bhadwaraj has faced a lot of challenges along the way, whether it may be regarding her academic life or her personal life, but she has always reverted back to singing. 

“I wanted to keep singing because it was one of the things that had really stuck to me since I was a really young child. Music seems to be really magical to me and every genre has its own magical touch in my opinion.” said Bharadwaj.

Bhadwaraj wanted to bring her passion to light in the 2022 Donversity rally, forming a Bollywood student ensemble and remixeing some of the most listened to classical pieces of music. She spent countless hours practicing in order to showcase her talent, and gathered some of friends to for an ensemble where they performed a mashup of three different Indian songs to present to the school.

“My friends and I started the AVHS Bollywood Ensemble in 2020, and we performed live at the Donversity at Amador this year. We also sent in recordings for last year’s Donversity, but singing live for the school and the amazing audience was a very ecstatic feeling!” said Bhadwaraj.

She also has participated in out of school activities, singing online for viewers and posting some of her best works on social media for the world to appreciate. There she has collaborated with her schoolmates Anwitha Epuri (22’), Juhi Malik (22’), Soumyasri Rangan (23’), Riddhi Datta (22’), and Vardaan Singhal (25’) to bring the unique styles of Bollywood music into the spotlight. 

Bhadwaraj not only sings Indian classical music, but also ventures into modern day pop as well. She idolizes Shreya Goshal and Sunidhi Chauhan as musical inspirations in terms of technique and vocal versatility, and looks up to Adele, Shakira, and Demi Lovato to pursue her passion in more mainstream pop music.

“I am definitely going to continue learning how to sing different genres in the future and I hope that I can be part of a large ensemble as well as improve on my solo singing,” said Bhadwaraj.

Bhadwaraj has also inspired not only the general public through her performances online to continue their passion for singing, but also inspired her own friends to continue their passion for singing by giving them opportunities to make covers along with herself on Instagram. Many of them have now started a second account to showcase their musical talents as well.

“I’ve been a classical singer for quite some time now but nothing ever gave me the extra push to publish some sort of content related to my musical talent until I saw Saakshi doing it. I was amazed by the confidence and courage it takes to post singing online but it inspired me to do that as well,” said Epuri.  

Many people often find classical singing as something very difficult as it is very time consuming and requires a lot of memorization, but Bhadwaraj has a true passion for it. She plans to do a lot more of it in the future, and possibly start a side business teaching younger kids how to develop their vocal chords.

“My favorite part about singing is the way it connects people around the world. I can sing a song in a language I’ve never heard before or that most people don’t know exists and it can still form an emotional connection.” said Bhadwaraj.