Ricky Kej aims to create awareness about environment through his songs, says Muskan Kathuria
Jimi Hendrix once said, “Music does not lie. If there is something to be changed in this world, then it can only happen through music.” Music-maker Ricky Kej, the youngest Indian to receive the prestigious Grammy award, believes in living by the same principle. He is one of the few independent composers who composes music that comes straight from the heart. He is also a conservationist who is concerned about inculcating a concern for environment through his music. His latest album Shanti Samsara builds environment consciousness and emphasises on climate change.
Performing in the capital during the World Environment Day celebrations, he left the audience spellbound. Kej said, “All my music, my work and my life are dedicated to the cause of environment, performing on this occasion in my motherland meant a lot to me.”
Kej had his calling early in life, wanting music to be “my hobby, profession, career and bread and butter.” He even gave up the idea of pursuing a career in dental science to pursue this goal. Says he, “I studied dental surgery because my parents forced me to complete it. I had made a deal with my father that once I completed the degree, I could do what I wanted to with my life. The minute I got my degree, I handed it over to my parents and became a full time musician. I did not practise dentistry even for a day!”
From being part of a rock band in college to becoming a composer, Kej has been inspired by the work of many famous musicians. “I have loved the styles of Pandit Ravi Shankar, Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Peter Gabriel and AR Rahman because they have never let genre boundaries define them. All that they did was make music that they strongly believed in, and collaborated with some of the best musicians and individuals across the globe.”
Talking about collaborations, he has worked with native American flute players, Gaelic, Hebrew and South African choirs, Korean, Turkish, Senegalese singers, Azerbaijani musicians, a Koto player from Japan and Maori musicians in his last album. His aim was to bring all these different cultures, traditions and people together through the universal language of music. He further wishes to collaborate with Hans Zimmer, whom he thinks is responsible for the careers of a whole new generation of genius composers. Pharell Williams, whom he feels is underrated, is another musician with whom he’d love to jam.
For Winds of Samsara, the album that got him the golden gramophone, he collaborated with South African flute player Wouter Kellerman. It is based on Ricky’s faith in the philosophy of Nelson Mandela and Gandhi. He talks about how his ideas clicked with Wouter’s: “It was around 2012 when I met him. We respected each other’s work and wanted to do a joint venture. When we met in los Angeles, while discussing ideas for a potential collaboration, I mentioned that I had just composed a piece of music based on the ideals of peace by Mahatma Gandhi, my father of the nation. It was a huge coincidence that Wouter was working on a piece of music inspired by Nelson Mandela, his father of the nation. Through our discussions we realised that there was a whole lot of cross-pollination here — Mahatma Gandhi spent his formative years in South Africa. Meanwhile, Nelson Mandela was heavily inspired by Mahatma Gandhi.” This album went on to reach the top of the US Billboard charts and world radio charts.
The Indian music industry has never been the principal market for this Indo-American composer. Here’s why. “It is because in India, 99 per cent of all the music content is created by the movie industry, whether Bollywood or the regional industries. Bollywood is so tightly integrated with the music industry that when I tell people in India that I am a composer, the first question I am asked is ‘Which filmIJ’ So music in India is always commissioned to a musician and is based on the sensibilities of a script or a director. Every piece of mainstream music is either an item song or a love Song. We have so many issues in India and people do feel strongly about these issues but there is no mainstream music created on these topics.”
Kej says his greatest performance was at the United Nations General Assembly. He was thrilled by the fact that he got to perform on the same stage where every world leader has stood and every major treaty has been signed. The history in that room was extremely overwhelming for him. Another of his favourite performances included the one at the Vidhana Soudha in Karnataka. Recently, he also got the opportunity to perform at the India Gate in New Delhi for the World Environment Day celebrations, which he says, was a dream come true. He elucidates, “Performing at these historic venues reflects a lot on my music and I am always grateful for these opportunities.”
Ricky is not just a musician but a conservationist as well. He says that both of them are connected, “I have always been a strong conservationist and environmentalist, along with being a musician. It was through my music that I fell in love with the natural world. I found a deep connection within music and nature. As a child, I loved hanging around with animals and within nature more than I did with humans. And I would see a personality in every single animal I saw, including insects and reptiles. At that young age, I was definitely a weird child.”
He also talks about how his meeting with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi was just the push he needed to keep working in the direction of conservation. “The meeting turned out to be an hour-long philosophical discussion. Our Prime Minister knew that I was a strong conservationist and inspired me to dedicate my life and my music to the sole cause of environmental consciousness. Since then all my music has been about environment and raising awareness about climate change.”
He concludes with highlighting the importance of educating children about environment conservation and incorporating that message in his music. Kej says, “To continue making music for the environment, raise awareness about the beauty of our natural world and what we need to do to sustain and regenerate are my future plans. I am now spending a lot of my time focussing on children.”