Bhubaneswar: Three-time Grammy award-winning musician and environmentalist Ricky Kej has created another version of the national anthem, this time collaborating with legendary instrumentalists and 14,000 tribal kids. Ricky says this project aims to create an ecosystem of music appreciators, adding, “Legendary musicians performed the melody for this project. This is something I wanted to do after last year’s orchestra version.” This is the fourth version of the National Anthem that Ricky has created. “Last year, I created an anthem with the British symphony. This year, I decided to build on that by recording an anthem with legendary instrumentalists and a choir of 14,000 children from tribal communities in Bhubaneswar, using the orchestra as the base,” he says.
The choir was recorded by Ricky in collaboration with educationist Achyuta Samanta, founder of Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. Ricky conducted a brief music lesson with all the children, teaching them Sa Re Ga Ma, rhythm, and scale – and set a new Guinness World Record for the ‘Largest Singing Lesson’. Ricky says that when the tribal students sang along with him, it was a powerful moment. He explains, “What’s more important is that they become better music appreciators. If we have an entire ecosystem of music appreciators who know a bit about music and are interested in it, musicians won’t feel the need to constantly dumb down their work, thinking no one will understand it. When you have informed music appreciators, the art form is elevated. That’s what I hope happens with these 14,000 kids.”
