Three’s the magic number!
US Billboard #1 artiste, UNESCO MGIEP Global Ambassador for Kindness, UNCCD Land Ambassador and UNICEF Celebrity Supporter and, of course, two-time Grammy Award winner, Ricky Kej is an internationally renowned Indian music composer and activist who has now been nominated for the third time for a Grammy by the Recording Academy of the United States.
He has performed at prestigious venues in over 30 countries, including the UN Headquarters in New York and Geneva and has won over 100 music awards in 20 countries. His vast repertoire of work features 16 studio albums released internationally, over 3,500 commercials and four feature films, along with the natural history documentary Wild Karnataka narrated by Sir David Attenborough.
But under all of this, Ricky is your typical Bengaluru boy, who just wants a quiet Christmas with his two dogs and his family as the mercury dips in his home city. He’s nominated for a third time Grammy for his recent album Divine Tides, which brings together his music and thoughts about the rapidly changing natural environment and his plea for co-existence.
“After my 2015 Grammy win for Winds of Samsara, I was looking forward to a follow-up album. I got busy touring the world followed by the successive lockdowns. It was only in 2020 that I finally sat down to make some new music and eventually collaborated with The Police’s founder-drummer Stewart Copeland to work on this album,” begins Ricky.
At home for the festive season, this announcement was a Christmas gift that came early in many ways for Ricky. “The timing was impeccable. I had just wrapped up a lot of my projects with the UN, including an ongoing one with the UNHCR in India and was planning to head back home for a short holiday, when I got to know about the nomination. This was in November,” adds the composer.
We caught up with Ricky to find out about what Christmas means to him, his musical journey and more…
When did you realise music is your true passion?
I think I have always been a musician, from the moment I first understood music. I owe it to my father since he had a huge collection of LPs, track cartridges, and cassettes that not only boasted Western pop artistes, but a lot of seemingly obscure music from different parts of the world. I had a knack for understanding the instruments used in each of these pieces and spent long hours listening to them in the process. That is how somewhere I developed a passion for music. I started off as a self-taught musician who took up formal lessons much later in his life.
How has the journey been from being a part of a progressive rock band to being nominated at the Grammys?
I was just 19 when I began my career as a musician with a Bengaluru-based band called Angel Dust. I was with them for a little under two years and happened to be the second youngest member of the ensemble. I never travelled outside Bengaluru until I became a part of the band and hence, the entire experience made me more disciplined. Immediately after this, I started working on TV and radio commercials and have completed almost 3,500 commercials so far. Soon after quitting Angel Dust, I was signed by a US-based label and my music was distributed by Universal Music. This was followed by multiple other labels, which eventually won me my first Grammy in 2015. It’s been quite a journey since then.
How does it feel to represent your roots globally at the Grammys?
Unlike any other music award given out by a particular country, the Grammys acknowledge musicians from across the world, which makes it the Olympics of music in a way. One thing that I realised is Indians are still confused when it comes to representation on an international level as they feel it is crucial for them to sing in English in order to do so. I think the actual ones who have broken cultural barriers are classical musicians like Ravi Shankar, Ustad Alla Rakha Qureshi, Ustad Akbar Ali Khan, and Anoushka Shankar among others. It is important to note that even when popular artistes are performing abroad, the audiences they attract are mainly constituted by the Indian diaspora while classical musicians performing abroad actually break cultural barriers by taking indigenous music to a global stage.
How do you plan on celebrating Christmas this year?
First of all, I’m going to urge people to not waste too much. Try as much as you can to avoid single-use plastics and also repeat that outfit. There’s no need to buy a new piece of clothing just to celebrate a festival. I’ve tried to popularise the hashtag #ReWear4Earth during the last two Grammy events I attended and repeated my outfit just to make a point. I also think Christmas can be the perfect time to adopt a pet. Another hashtag that resonates with me is #AdoptDontShop. I am a proud parent to two adorable dogs that I adopted and would encourage people to do so. They might make this season of celebration an absolute season of joy!
The Grammy Awards 2023 will be announced on February 6, 2023