Grammy-nominated, multi-instrumentalist and sensory artist, Radhika Vekaria was born with a gift—a flair for reciting the most sacred scripts without losing her breath. Before Radhika could even speak, at the age of two, she was singing perfect melodies and devotional songs, hitting the perfect pitch, without even knowing what they meant.
Today, she resides in Los Angeles, with a Grammy nomination under her belt, where she infuses her music with the wisdom of ancient Sanskrit narratives, blend-ing tradition with innovation. She has made a historical performance as the first-ever mantra artist at SXSW and collaborated with the world-renowned artist Jeff Koons, with her voice alongside Rihanna, Paul McCartney and David Bowie for the highly anticipated Apollo exhibition in Greece.
Radhika’s music, including her acclaimed album Sapta: The Seven Ways and Warriors of Light, got her the Grammy nod and pays homage to her Indian heritage. ‘My grandparents moved from India to East Africa, my parents relocated from Kenya to London and I eventually found myself in California. It feels almost like a slingshot back to my roots. Sometimes, you have to travel far away to truly understand and appreciate something, which makes you long for it even more. The greater the distance from some-thing, the more room there is for your heart to yearn for it.’
Radhika’s music will take you on a journey of release, self-discovery and enlight-enment. It is a true expression of her desire as a child to heal others, as today, she advo-cates for the transformative power of mantras and the timeless wisdom of vedic culture integrated into our modern world. With each melody, Radhika bridges the East and West, simultaneously beckoning us to embrace the harmony within ourselves and the world around us.
Finding A Voice
My path of music is unconventional and my journey has been incredibly tough. There were many times I struggled and didn’t listen to my true inner voice, often creating music that I thought I had to make. When you enter an industry, you’re often influenced by templates and examples of what has been done before. While those may serve as inspiration for some, they never resonated with me. Choosing an unconventional path adds a layer of stress and pressure. You question whether you’ll succeed, constantly looking at examples of what has worked for others. Unfortunately, much of the advice given is unhelpful—often just terrible advice.
Mantras As Living Beings
Inspiration can come from anywhere. I have come to realise that the mantras, the devotional songs—everything I sing and share—come from my direct experiences. I don’t just pick a mantra because it’s cool or pretty; I treat them with utmost respect as living vibrations, almost like they’re beings.
“Sometimes, you have to travel far away to truly understand and appreciate something, which makes you long for it even more. The greater the distance from some-thing, the more room there is for your heart to yearn for it.”
Debut Album, Sapta
Regarding my creative process, my previous album, Sapta, was my first foray into this artistic journey. In 2016, I received so many signs that this was my path. People urged me to record myself singing in Sanskrit but I resisted for a long time because I knew it was a serious commitment. If I was going to do it, I had to take it very seriously. Sapta features mantras and sacred songs that have profoundly affected my life and served as anchors for me. One of the songs is particularly special; I sang it to my father while he was in the hospital before he passed away and he found incredible peace in it. This album was really about honouring that journey.
Warriors of Light
I took few mantras from Sapta that are pretty simple and worked with producer Grammy- winning George Landers, whom I managed to find after two years of searching. I started working on Warriors of Light, which was a significant one because it was tough during the pandemic. It was a challenging time for many, including myself. A lot of us went through very personal things, as well as collective experiences. Every single chant and mantra on that album was like an anchor in the tornado. I lived and breathed those intensely throughout that period. Warriors of Light is a testament to this journey. Each track is a celebration of divine energies and manifestations that embody the warrior spirit.
Layering Sacred Scripts With Music
You never really know how inspiration is going to strike. You’re kind of living and breath-ing something. When you’re practising mantras, even if you’re not saying them out loud, they are flowing through your system. The rhythm and meter become part of you, setting a tempo and structure for everything else to be created around. For me, it was very natu-ral and organic how these pieces came together. The most important thing was to honour the integrity of what it meant. My songs or compositions are never a case of, ‘Oh, I’m going to slot this mantra here because it sounds cool’. It always starts with Sanskrit; that is the core. Everything else is built around it. I sit with the mantra as if it’s an altar and I ask, ‘What do you need? What does this mean?’ then I let it unfold.
For instance, Liberate was my first song that combined English and Sanskrit. I wasn’t sure if I could express in English the question that I felt the Mrityunjaya answered. Mrityunjaya is an answer; it’s a state of being where you chant that mantra while facing something hard. It represents life’s answer, the cosmos, creation.
Words Hansika Lohani
Date 11-112025