Bhubaneswar: Ricky Kej, the multi-Grammy Award-winning Indian music composer and environmentalist who has performed in over 30 countries including at the United Nations headquarters in New York and Geneva, was here Monday at a City hotel to be part of Ek Mulakat, a live session organised by Prabha Khaitan Foundation (PKF) and Ehsaas Women of Bhubaneswar.
Ek Mulakat is an event to provide a platform to personalities from various segments of society to interact with a select audience.
PKF is a Kolkata-based non-profit trust founded in the early 1980s by eminent novelist and poet late Prabha Khaitan, for the cause of socio-cultural welfare.
Kej began the conversation talking about his passion for music and environment. Responding to a question, he said that his father, who was a music collector of various genres, is his inspiration.
“Dad was a follower of icons like Michael Jackson and Madonna and a true connoisseur of African, Vietnamese and Indian folk music which influenced me,” said Kej who started composing music and jingled for commercials from the age of 19.
“In a span of 13 years I had created over 3,000 compositions for several brands but after sometime I realised music has the power to influence and communicate with the masses. Then, I stopped doing commercial music and another journey began,” he added.
About his absence from the Hindi film scene he said although he loves Indian music, he prefers to stay away from filmy music as it pressurises one to do differently than one wants.
“Stalwarts like Pt Ravi Shankar, Zakir Husain are known internationally for their own creations, and not for filmy music and that inspires me to do what I am doing at the moment,” he quipped.
Ricky, who won his first Grammy in 2015 for his album Winds of Samsara in the Best New Age Album, bagged the second this year for his work Divine Tides.
Praveen Tuli was the moderator of the session.
Nidhi Garg – counselling psychologist- Ehsaas women of Bhubaneswar, Vedula Ramalakshmi- professor hindi
Ehsaas women of Bhubaneswar, Namrata Chadha- Social Activist, Partha Sarthi Ray-Actor and others were present at the event.
