Grammy award-winning Indian musician Ricky Kej says that India was never a major market for him as it is ruled by Bollywood music, which is created much like a product on an assembly line. He talks to Divya Kaushik about his bestselling album and his encounter with Pharrell Williams
Isn’t that sad that a musical genius who impressed the Western world with his music so much that he was honoured with the Grammy recently, did not find enough takers for his work in his own countryIJ All that many in the music industry care about is how many Bollywood films he has done so far. And as a matter of fact, he has hardly done any. Bengaluru-based musician Ricky Kej, who recently won the top musical honour for his debut collaborative album Winds of Samsara in the best new-age album of the year category, says that he always knew that India is not the place for his kind of music.
“At the very onset of my career I realised that I cannot easily be a part of Indian musical industry which is ruled by Bollywood music. And Bollywood music I can’t associate with because music for me is a spiritual experience, it is an act, whereas in Bollywood music is treated like a commodity and it is produced like any product on an assembly line. Music, for me, is created by each individual from heart. So I was very patient and worked towards my goal with great perseverance. It was not easy being an Indian to make a mark globally, but I worked towards that by travelling across the world. I took my music to various conferences and festivals, and fortunately for me, wherever I travelled people loved my music and that gave me confidence to strengthen my network,” says Ricky.
The Grammy-winning album, which spotlights the musical, cultural and political connections between India and South Africa from late freedom fighters Mahatma Gandhi to Nelson Mandela, is a collaboration with South African flutist Wouter Kellerman. It is one of highest selling instrumental albums of 2014. Even on radio, it debuted at number one. So, the album was already extremely popular before the Grammy nomination. But in India he is not sure if many people know about the album as this has never been his major market. One of the biggest differences between the Indian and the Western musical market is that in the latter case there is zero tolerance towards piracy and the laws regarding it are very strict. Says Ricky, “In India people think it is their right to get music for free, so rather than buying it they look forward to downloading it. Many feel that piracy is no crime. So in such a scenario it is very difficult for independent artistes to make a living through music. We need strict anti-piracy laws here and more than the laws, we need to create awareness on the issue of piracy.”
The musician, who is inspired by the greats like Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Peter Gabriel and Pandit Ravi Shankar, collaborated with South African flutist Wouter Kellerman for Winds of Samsara. He has had an opportunity to work with Peter Gabriel in November, “but I still look forward to work with a brilliant musician like him. Apart from him, I really want to collaborate with Pharrell Williams, he is a genius. I consider myself fortunate that he was the first person to congratulate me after winning the Grammy. I took a selfie with him,” shares Ricky, who was interested in pursuing a career in music since his childhood but because his parents wanted him to complete a course in dentistry he had to do that to get his degree.
“I knew that music was my calling and even when I was in college I was playing in a couple of bands. I used to get good money through that. By the end of my dentistry course, I had collected good money to come up with my own studio. At present I run two state-of-the-art studios in Bengaluru. One of them is the Raveolution Studios, where much of Winds of Samsara was developed — from spark of an idea to a complete album,” he says. Ricky’s Grammy win has surely opened many doors for him internationally and back home people has finally started recognising his great work in music. “People are finally talking about my music in India but I think that time is still far when there will be a larger awareness on independent music here,” he ends.