Ricky Kej: There is a change in how the industry looks at the music I create

Singer Ricky Kej talks about the music industry warming up to the kind of music he churns out.

Music composer and environmentalist Ricky Kej, who recently got nominated for his fourth Grammy Award, says his perception towards music and its use as a catalyst to create an environment-conscious society has evolved over the years.

Ricky Kej

The composer, who is in the running for a Grammy in the Best New Age, Ambient or Chant Album category for Break of Dawn, muses, “There is a change in a lot of things... in my own behaviour, for example. When I started off, I was a hardcore environmentalist. I always thought it is all-or-nothing, and people should stop doing this or that. I thought one should shame people into action. Later, I started having empathy and understood that I have to be realistic about this approach.”

The 43-year-old, who won his first Grammy in 2015 for his album Winds of Samsara, adds, “There are only two kinds of problems — surviving and thriving.” Kej rues, “Climate change is more looked upon as a problem of thriving, which developed nations can take care of. India has immediate problems like hunger, malnutrition, gender inequality and air pollution.” Unless we address these immediate threats, we cannot take on other ones, he says, adding, “I started having a holistic view towards my music.”

As the youngest Indian to win a Grammy Award and only the fourth to receive the honour, the musician believes he has “grown up a lot” since then. “From the industry aspect, a change is there one hundred percent. They have realised music is very good as a medium. People started realising sometimes they want a little more from their music; they want this art form to give them something to think about,” he opines.

Break of Dawn, which is based on ancient Indian raags, seems to be a step in that direction. “For my recent album, a huge record label actually started another new label specifically for music like it. This is huge. And this is happening everywhere,” Kej ends.