The story of Aditya Gadhvi

Aditya Gadhvi did not have to go looking for folk music; he grew up inside it. His family comes from Surendranagar in Gujarat, and he describes a line in which four generations have worked in literature and music. His father, Yogesh Gadhvi, is a folk singer and folklorist, and there are poets among the family’s forebears.

He started early. By his own account he could sing the whole Shiv Tandav at four, and his father remembers him singing devotional and folk songs even before that. His first stage was a modest one — a Janmashtami programme at school — but the direction was already set.

At eighteen he entered ETV’s Lok Gayak Gujarat, a televised search for the state’s next folk voice, and won it. Other singing contests on Gujarati channels followed, and he won several of those too.

Then came the apprenticeship every Gujarati folk artist knows: Dayro, the long evenings of songs, verses and stories, performed town after town across Gujarat. He has said that this is where he began, and it is still the form his live shows return to.

In 2013 he travelled to Chennai to see A.R. Rahman’s music institute, the KM Music Conservatory, and stayed to study there for about four years. The years widened his musical vocabulary far beyond Gujarati folk, and put him on stage beside Rahman as a backing vocalist in live concerts.

That same December brought an unexpected line on his résumé. ‘Har Har Mahadeva’ and ‘Aygiri Nadani’, songs he sang for the film Kamasutra 3D, appeared on the Academy’s list of 75 songs in contention for Original Song nominations at the 86th Oscars. It was an eligibility list, not a nomination, and neither song went further.

The road was not smooth. Labels and event organisers were slow to back regional folk music, and he was nudged towards Sufi and film songs instead. His answer was to put folk songs out on his own terms, beginning with ‘Hansla’ in 2015, which was nominated at the GiMA Awards the following year.

Film work arrived alongside the folk releases. From ‘Gaam Ghondro’ in Premji: Rise of a Warrior (2015), he became a regular voice on Gujarati soundtracks: ‘Sar Sar Ke’ for Gujjubhai Most Wanted, ‘Amba Re Amba’ for Ventilator and ‘Sapna Vinani Raat’ for Hellaro.

He also sang in Tamil for composer D. Imman — ‘Marhaba Aavona’ with Shreya Ghoshal in 2017 and ‘Adchithooku’ for Viswasam — and both wrote and sang for Luv Ni Love Storys (2020). Recent soundtracks include Samandar, Hurry Om Hurry, Vahali and, in 2026, ‘Vadhaavo Re’ for Jindagi Once More.

On 5 July 2023 Coke Studio Bharat released ‘Khalasi’, a song about a restless sailor roaming the shores of Gujarat. Achint composed and produced it, Saumya Joshi wrote the words and Aditya’s voice carried it. Fans could even hear it five days early by scanning a QR code on Coke cans.

It became one of the platform’s defining songs. Khalasi climbed to No. 11 on Spotify’s weekly chart in India and No. 25 on the UK’s Official Asian Music Chart, and that November Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised it in a post on X. By September 2026 the official video had passed 186 million views.

The song carried him to some of the country’s biggest stages, including the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup final in Ahmedabad in November 2023. In 2024 the Coca-Cola campaign built around it won Cannes Lions for its agency partners.

National recognition had already arrived. In November 2022 the Sangeet Natak Akademi selected him for the Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar for 2020, for folk music from Gujarat. Since Khalasi the circle has kept widening. There have been collaborations with Sachin–Jigar, Falguni Pathak, Darshan Raval, Amit Trivedi and Salim–Sulaiman, and a second Coke Studio Bharat song, ‘Meetha Khaara’ (2025), honouring the salt farmers of Kutch. He also sings on ‘Wheel of Time’ from Sounds of Kumbha, the album nominated for Best Global Music Album at the 68th GRAMMYs.

His concerts now stretch from the ten Navratri nights of Rang Morla in Ahmedabad to theatres in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia, and to festival stages such as NH7 Weekender in 2026. Next comes Lollapalooza India in January 2027.

Through it all he keeps returning to the source. His newest release, ‘Haan Re Daan Maange’ (September 2026), is a traditional song with a few lines of his own added.