Music composer Ricky Kej met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday. Kej just received his second Grammy for ‘Divine Tides’ in the category of the best new album.
Pictures from the meeting have been shared on social media and are since then going viral all over. Modi in his post said the Grammy winner's love and excitement for music just keep growing by the day. “Happy to have met you @rickykej! Your passion and enthusiasm towards music keeps getting even stronger. Best wishes for your future endeavours (sic),” tweeted the PM.
Stewart Copeland, the drummer of the legendary British rock band 'The Police,' who co-worked with Kej on ‘Divine Tides’, shared the honour of the Grammy.
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After winning the Grammy this year, in a conversation with PTI, Kej had said, "I won my first Grammy at the age of 33, I am 40 now. The Grammys always felt like an unattainable dream, I wouldn't even think about it. It felt like it was not possible, me being a person from India, living in India, making niche music in the country. I didn't even give it a second thought, because it was just impossible. Then, when I won, I thought what is my goal now? I never had any long term plans. Today, when I have won my second, it feels surreal, it is yet to sink in."
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Not many would know that Kej, who was born in North Carolina in the US and moved to Bengaluru at the age of eight, took to music at a young age. While he was always fascinated with music, studying in Bengaluru's Bishop Cotton Boys School furthered his drive when he watched his friends play the guitar. Kej enrolled in a college to study dentistry and simultaneously took formal education in western classical and Indian classical music.
Reflecting on his journey, Kej said winning his second Grammy trophy ‘feels different’ because he has not only ‘matured’ as a musician but also got to work with Copeland, his ‘childhood idol’. "It has been the greatest musical experience of my life. He has shaped my music with his work. To then stand with him on the same stage, collect our Grammys, there are no words to describe what I felt," he had said in the same interview.
