Hrishikesh Hirway
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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What have you found surprising about getting older?
What I'm surprised about getting older is how little changes, actually.
Well, now you're just bragging. But do tell. Tell me.
I still feel like I'm a work in progress as much as I did 20 years ago. Like, I still feel like I'm wondering what I'm going to be when I grow up. And I'm wondering when I will figure it out. I'm wondering when I will get to settle my version of myself into the thing that I hope to be.
I'm Rachel Martin, and this is Wildcard, the game where cards control the conversation. Do you have one of those friends who's always been into music, like really into music? And this friend also happens to be an incredible storyteller with an amazing ear for detail and an insatiable curiosity about human nature and creativity? Well, that's who it feels like I'm hanging out with whenever I listen to an episode of the podcast Song Exploder. Because the host, Rishikesh Hirwe, is like that friend, helping me understand music and musicians in a deeper way. He is so very good at this because he himself is a musician. He's got a new album out, and it's called In the Last Hour of Light. And I am so very happy to welcome Rishikesh Hirwe to Wildcard.
Hi.
Hi. So good to see you.
First round, memories. I hold up three cards. I know you listen to the show, so you know how this goes. You pick randomly, Rishikesh. One, two, or three.
Let's start with one.
Let's start with one. Where did you get to feel independent as a kid?
You know, I think that feeling independent was a really important thing for me as a kid and still as an adult. I remember when I was little, I didn't quite recognize it for what it was, some kind of willful streak or something. But I remember... It used to manifest in a way where people would ask if you want Coke or Sprite or Coke or Pepsi or something. In my head, I remember as a little kid, mainstream sodas. And I thought, no, no, no, I want orange soda.
And it wasn't that you necessarily really loved the taste of orange soda. You were just like, I'm going to be different. That's like for the, you know, basic kids. I'm going to be fly my little freak flag of orange soda.
Yeah. Yeah. That's something different. I think I did genuinely like it more.
Okay. Okay, good.
But I also don't know that I can completely separate where the motivation was. Was it because I liked the taste? The thing that really sticks out in my mind was I know that I liked that it was sort of a less – it was the path less traveled.
Did this ever get you into trouble, independence? Or was it mostly a productive feeling in your family and childhood?
I think – I wouldn't say that it got me into trouble, but my parents certainly wanted me to be a doctor, the traditional career of choice for any Indian family for their kid. And because, again, it was the default, almost before – interrogating it for myself, I felt like that wasn't going to be for me. And then I did think about it more and I recognized that, yeah, I don't think that's going to be what I want. But that was another example of feeling a need to be independent and find my own path. And I just had this inborn nature of trying to avoid the thing that felt like the default.
Hmm. Who modeled that for you? Do you know? Or you just kind of conjured it? Yeah.
Yeah, I don't know that anybody modeled it. And in fact, if somebody modeled it, I might not have been as attracted to it, right? Like part of what was, yeah. Part of what I liked was that I felt like I was doing my own thing.
Yeah. One, two, or three.
Let's do two. Two.
Ah, what music became part of your identity as a teenager?
I mean, so much. Really, just the idea of music. Music became a part of my identity. I think growing up, I had been a kid who did well in school.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–6:57
2
How does Hrishikesh describe his childhood independence and rebellion against expectations?
6:57–18:19
3
What music shaped Hrishikesh’s teenage identity and how did he learn to play?
18:19–23:33
4
How did Hrishikesh’s parents react as music became his career path?
23:33–43:18
5
Why did Hrishikesh take a long break from releasing albums and what changed?
43:18–47:17