Grammy-winning musician Ricky Kej’s latest album, Gandhi – Mantras of Compassion, is an ode to Mahatma Gandhi. “He has handheld us into the 20th. He has left his footprint on the world,” says the singer-composer whose previous three Grammy-winning tasks have every had a music on the Mahatma. “But I always wanted to dedicate an entire album to him,” says Ricky.
Cut to 2024 when he did a four-city live performance tour together with one other individual he admires, Kailash Satyarthi, who leads a life based mostly on the ideas of the Mahatma. It was a fundraiser for Kailash’s motion for world compassion. Ricky obtained to spend time at Kailash’s Bal Ashram in Jaipur. That was after they determined to put collectively an album on Gandhi. It is an try to retell his beliefs to a world stuffed with nervousness, struggle, hatred and unrest.
Kailash Satyarthi
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For the album, Ricky has collaborated with over 200 musicians from 40 nations, together with a Charango participant from Argentina, a Dan bau artiste from Vietnam and a guitarist from Chennai. The album has 11 songs, together with 5 favorite hymns of the Mahatma, a Sanskrit translation of ‘The lord’s prayer’ and authentic compositions by Ricky.
Earlier this month, on his birthday, Ricky launched a non secular observe from the album. Titled ‘We are one’, it is based mostly on ‘Raghupati raghav raja ram’, one other of the Mahatma’s favorite. The music video for the music, which was shot over two years with Ricky travelling to varied sacred websites throughout the world, was lately unveiled at the Celebrating India Film Festival in New Delhi.
“The track talks about oneness — a lot of rituals across religions are the same, and most of them have a common essence of love and compassion,” he says.
