Ricky Kej
| Ricky Kej | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Ricky Kej |
| Born |
5 August 1981 North Carolina, US |
| Years active | 2000–present |
| Website | rickykej |
Ricky Kej (born 5 August 1981) is an Indo-American composer, music producer and conservationist. He won the Grammy at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards for his album Winds of Samsara, a collaboration with South African flautist Wouter Kellerman. Kej and Kellerman were announced as nominees on December 5, 2014, in the Best New Age Album category. The project, his 14th studio album, had made a debut at #1 on the US Billboard New Age Albums Chart earlier in the year in August 2014, a first for a person of Indian origin. The album also peaked at #1 on the Zone Music Reporter Top 100 Radio Airplay Chart in the month of July 2014. His album Shanti Samsara - World Music for Environmental Consciousness was launched on November 30, 2015 at COP21, the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In the months since its launch, Kej has travelled widely speaking about conservation and the environment, visiting the Republic of Kiribati, where he interviewed three-term ex-president Anote Tong.
Shanti Samsara has earned prizes from the Global Music Awards, the International Acoustic Music Awards, and is a finalist in the John Lennon Song Writing Contest.
Kej has previously composed the soundtrack for four feature films in the Kannada language, and is credited with over 3,000 placements for Radio and Television Jingles. He also composed the music for the 2011 Cricket World Cup opening ceremony, held at Dhakka on 17 February 2011. On April 26, 2016, Kej travelled to Jaipur, India where he was named as goodwill ambassador for Save the Children's new global campaign, Every Last Child. On July 18, 2016, Kej was awarded the Excellence and Leadership award as a global humanitarian artist at the first annual NOVUS Summit and performed excerpts from Shanti Samsara live in United Nations General Assembly Hall. Kej concluded his performance at the United Nations General Assembly by saying, "To end I want to state the obvious ... Climate change is real ... Climate change is human induced. Climate change is affecting us all ... and our actions affect countries on the other side of the world."
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