Ricky Kej, music composer and an environmentalist, put India on the map by winning his second Grammy Award for his recent album titled Divine Tides with the legendary Stewart Copeland. The duo won the award in the Best New Age Album category. Kej won his second Grammy and Copeland won his sixth so far.
Speaking of becoming a multi-Grammy winner, Kej says, “It is a really good moment to win a Grammy Award because it is the greatest recognition for music that the world offers today. But this one was extra special because the Grammy win was along with Stewart Copeland, who has been my childhood idol. Just to win a Grammy alongside him was a surreal experience. This was a very special award for me.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also took to twitter to convey his wishes, and Kej says that “it’s almost coming full circle”. “When I won my first Grammy Award in 2015, PM Modi had invited me for a meeting. And what was supposed to be a 10-minute meeting, went on almost for an hour. We discussed about various topics like the environment and sustainability,” Kej adds.
The album, Divine Tides, is about consciousness and co-existence. Ask him what has been the inspiration behind this album, and he says, “Ever since I remember, my whole life, I have been just two things – a musician and an environmentalist, and these two pillars have dictated my life and decision. We grew up in the middle of nowhere with a lot of wooden areas around my home. And my parents would constantly tell me to run away from these seemingly dangerous and creepy crawling animals that would crawl into our home. My question to them was that if we are to kill them as soon as we see them, then why do they exist in the first place? Now, I understand that every single animal, no matter how seemingly insignificant they may be, is an important part of our ecosystem. So, all these thoughts and ideas found its way to my music and later on in my life music and nature and the environment became one entity.”
Kej’s music has always been on the path of environment, nature and co-existence. About how he fuses a social message through his music, he says, “The eternal question is that do you shame people into action or do you inspire people into action. Shamming people into action is also effective, which is the Greta Thunberg approach. But that is not the path that I have taken. I have taken the approach which is inspiring people into action through love and reverence. I call it the David Attenborough approach. With my music, I try to celebrate nature and showcase to people what we might lose.”
This was second collaboration between Copeland and Kej, the first one was for a single track a few years ago. However, in the first collaboration, Kej never met or interacted with Copeland directly and was only in touch with artiste managers and had finished his production without even speaking with Copeland. However, this one was completely different. Through the pandemic, he got in touch with Copeland and collaborated with him directly. After countless video conferences, and overcoming multiple hurdles, the duo still managed to come up with an album that got them the prestigious Grammy Award.
