Grammy award winning musician Ricky Kej
Credit: X/@rickykej
New Delhi: Indian classical musicians continue to shine at the global stage and win accolades but domestically, people don't appreciate them for their achievements, says multiple award-winning composer Ricky Kej.
A three-time Grammy winner, Kej said while Western audiences praise Indian classical artists who have "broken cultural barriers", people in India are generally unaware about their work and achievements.
"I believe that Indian classical musicians have constantly been getting accolades all over the world for a very long time. It's just that we do not appreciate them the same way the Western audiences do. If you look at a person like Pandit Ravi Shankar- he has broken cultural barriers, collaborated with some of the top musicians over the world," Kej told PTI.
"He spread Indian classical music everywhere in the world, but if you talk to anybody within India and ask them to name one song or album of Pt. Ravi Shankar, no one can. It's really sad that we in India are not appreciating our traditional art forms, whereas Western audiences are appreciating it," he added.
While a Bollywood musician's concert is attended by people from the Indian diaspora, Kej said it is not the case with classical artists.
"Classical musicians have broken cultural barriers where they're reaching out to people who are not of Indian origin. I believe that Indian music is being appreciated.
"Even the Grammy awards- whoever has won the Grammy awards has been an Indian classical musician or somebody who's been a traditional Indian musician. So, I believe that classical music forms need to be encouraged more within our own country," he added.
Kej, 43, recently announced a new rendition of the national anthem "Jana Gana Mana", which will be available to audiences around the world on August 14.
The new rendition features performances by music maestros, such as Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, Rakesh Chaurasia, Rahul Sharma, Amaan & Ayaan; Sheik Mahaboob Subhani and Kaleeshabi Mahaboob and Giridhar Udupa.
The anthem also features almost 14,000 students from the Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences, which helped Kej create the Guinness world record.
Asked about his experience collaborating with Bansuri maestro Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, Kej said he has been a fan of the veteran's music since childhood.
"Working with him was an incredible experience because I've grown up listening to him and going to his concerts. He is basically one of the greatest musicians ever to walk our planet.
"When he walked into the studio, I remember touching his feet and getting blessings from him." Kej said though he performs his compositions at concerts, he loves taking Indian folk songs and coming up with new renditions of them.
"I have done that for a lot of folk songs. The other group of people that I love working with are the tribal singers and tribal musicians in India. I have done a lot of collaborations with tribal musicians in Araku Valley, North Karnataka, and the Northeast," he said.
Kej was recently in headlines after he complained last week on social media that Air India downgraded his business class ticket for the Mumbai-Bengaluru flight. At the time, the airline said the aircraft was changed into an all-economy configuration, regretting the inconvenience caused to all the passengers and initiated the refund process.
The musician said he wanted to share his experience to make people aware of such instances.
"All I'll say is that sometimes it's important to call out things when you feel there's injustice or you feel that you don't want anybody else to go through what you've gone through. Sometimes it's important to tweet these things so that's what I did," he added.