He was trained primarily by Vinayakrao Patwardhan and Vilayat Hussain Khan and is considered a representative of Gwalior[2] and Agra traditions.
Athavale was deeply influenced by political thinkers like Sane, Bhagwat, and Gandhi and Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.
Figures like Gajananrao Joshi, Nivruttibuwa Sarnaik, and D. V. Paluskar were "guiding lights" to Athavale throughout his association with them.
Athavale studied aesthetics, bandish, gharana, history, thumri, naad, philosophy, and bhaav during his career.
[6] Post independence, while he was working As a music producer in AIR Delhi, he was asked to compose “Vande Mataram” again.
"Athavale questioned the legitimacy of gharanas and argued that their salient features were defined by alap, bol, and taan, not merely swara and laya.
These include Shobha Abhyankar, Shanno Khurana, Sudhir Pote, Ali Razwan, Nisha Nigalye-Parasnis,[13] Sandhya Kathavate, and Bireshvar Gautam.