There’s sweet news for Indians from this year’s Grammy Awards — two of our compatriots have bagged themselves prestigious award at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards held at in Los Angeles, California.
Bangalore-based musician Ricky Kej won the ‘Best New Age Album’ trophy for his collaborated album “Winds Of Samsara”, becoming the first Indian to take home an award in this category. The album, jointly produced by Ricky Kej and South African flutist Wouter Kellerman, has total 14 compositions with a theme inspired by the ‘ideals of peace by Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela’.
According to their website, “Winds of Samsara” speaks to themes of peace and positivity, spinning together forward-moving harmony, progressive composition, and technical prowess with a verve and passion never before attempted in the New Age genre”.
In 2003, Kej released his first International lounge album titled ‘Communicative art – Lounge from the bay’. Until now, he has produced 13 albums including quite popular ‘Kamasutra Lounge part 1 & 2′. Besides, he has given music to four Kannada movies.
The other awardee, Neela Vaswani, has received the award in the ‘Best Children’s Album’ category for her audio narration of the book “I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up For Education And Changed The World” written by Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai. Neela Vaswani is a New York-based author who has Indian roots through her Sindhi father.
Meanwhile, sitarist Anoushka Shankar’s album ‘Traces of You’ was nominated in the Best World Music Album category, but did not win the award.
