BENGALURU: It was a good win for Bengaluru-based Ricky Kej at the Grammy Awards this year but behind the success were several others too. One such is Shashank Akella, a guitarist who was part of Divine Tides, the album which Kej won the award for.
Akella, who has been a musician for the last 18 years, has worked with Kej over the last two years as the head of media. The pandemic hit just when he returned to India after completing his Masters in Music Business from the University of Leads. With work leads being slim, he was called to be part of Kej’s team. Since then, he has been actively involved in working on music videos, editing, post-production, graphics and album artworks, among others.
Working on the album Divine Tides was a different experience altogether. Akella was part of the songs Our Home and A Prayer from the album. “Kej told me that he’s planning to work on the album with legendary musician Stewart Copeland. He had a game plan in mind. There was a lot of back and forth since a lot of work was done online. Though I’m just one of the many musicians involved, it’s thrilling to be part of a Grammy award-winning work,” he shares.
With Kej’s many travel plans and the pandemic, most of their interactions have been virtual. “I get most of the raw footage of the videos to put together for the final one. I was given the creative freedom to finalise it,” Akella says, adding that he’s also worked on songs I am Change and Pastrol India, both of which have seen good feedback on social media.
But when it came to the Grammy nomination, Kej himself wasn’t sure if he’d win it at all given the stiff competition, Akella recalls. “When we found out that the album was nominated, we were obviously thrilled. But the final dates of the award ceremony were pushed to April from January because of the pandemic. When the day finally came, it was such a dream come true, especially to know that I had a small part to play in it. Honestly, I’m still processing that feeling.”
While he works with Kej during the day, he plays with his band, Space Is All We Have, by dusk. “I know I have a long way to go but I hope to have a Grammy-winning work in the future too,” he says.