On World Earth Day, go green with music!

On World Earth Day, go green with music!

Grammy award-winning musician, environmentalist, UNESCO ambassador and youth icon Ricky Kej, who has organised an online concert in collaboration with UN Climate Change, UNICEF, WHO among others, on the occasion of World Earth Day, reveals his plans on the occasion.

Being an environmentalist, how important is it for you to perform on World Earth Day and what is the message you are aiming to spread through this concert?
A: I make it a point to perform on Earth Day every year. This year it is an absolute honour for me to join forces with organisations such as WWF, United Nations Climate Change, UNCCD, UNICEF, UNESCO - MGIEP and the Earth Day Network to perform a mega-concert online. 

We have high profile speakers such as the World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus talking about measures to avoid COVID-19. All my songs are about protecting and nurturing our environment and other social issues. I will take our audience on an immersive high energy musical journey while leaving them with a greater appreciation of our planet. This concert will be showcased live on multiple streaming channels on Earth Day (the 22nd of April). Forty-four fantastic musicians from 6 countries will join me, and this includes 5 Grammy Winners.

How do you see in connection with nature and the environment, and how do you plan to use music as a means to spread your message?
A: I have always been a staunch environmentalist, along with being a musician. It was through music that I fell in love with our natural world, and I have always found a deep connection between music and nature. 

How did music start? It started as sounds of nature, and then we started interpreting it in our way. Winning the Grammy Award in really pushed and inspired me to dedicate my life and my music to the sole cause of Environmental Consciousness. Ever since then, all of my music has been about the environment and raising awareness of climate change. I also had the opportunity to perform my music thrice at the United Nations Headquarters in New York and Geneva and in over 30 countries. I am always grateful for these opportunities to be an agent of change, in my small capacity, and I plan to do the same this Earth Day.

We’ve seen a lot of musicians take part in various concerts from their homes these days in times of lockdown. Have you been doing such concerts regularly as well these days?
A: This pandemic has impacted the entire music industry since the industry is hugely dynamic, and different professionals rely on each other. Performing artists, Production companies, event management companies, sound engineers, recording studios and everyone else involved is stuck in limbo at the moment. We have to learn to adapt to the situation and wait until it eases. I did perform ‘My Earth Songs’ for children. The songs are about the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations in association with UNICEF recently.

Could you shed some more light on your work as an environmentalist?
A: I work closely with global organisations and serve as an ambassador and supporter for UNCCD, UNESCO - MGIEP, UNICEF India, Earth Day Network etc. I am also a strong advocate of the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN. I have always believed that only when people start acknowledging an issue and start a dialogue to solve it, a solution will come. 

I aim to inspire this dialogue through my music. Music has the power to retain a message deep in the consciousness of a listener. I have performed to audiences consisting of World – Leaders, decision-makers and prominent dignitaries to urge them to create stronger policies to tackle environmental issues and health issues. I have performed to hundreds of thousands of the general public to raise awareness about these issues, and inspire behavioural change.

Wouter Kellerman is also one of the artists who will be performing alongside you at this Earth Day concert, and the album ‘Winds of Samsara’ that the two of working together on in the past, also won the Grammy. Your thoughts on the same?
A: It was around 2012 when I met South African flute player Wouter Kellerman. I was a huge fan of his music; he was a fan of my music. We wanted to work together. We finally met in Los Angeles, and while discussing ideas for a potential collaboration, I mentioned that I had just composed a piece of music based on the ideals of peace by Mahatma Gandhi, my father of the nation. It was a huge coincidence that Wouter was working on a piece of music inspired by Nelson Mandela, his father of the nation. 

Through our discussions we realised that there was a whole lot of cross-pollination here - Mahatma Gandhi spent his formative years in South Africa, so he has a bit of South Africa in him. Mahatma Gandhi heavily inspired Nelson Mandela, so he had a bit of India in him. While collaborating musically, both of us became the best of friends, travelled across the globe and in 2. A half years we had an album ready ‘Winds of Samsara’, and that album went to the top of the US Billboard charts. We eventually won the Grammy Award for it. It is always exciting to perform my music live in concert with a close friend.

Twenty-seven of your songs on sustainability were featured in more than 2 million school textbooks to teach students the importance of being environmentally conscious. How much more does something like that inspires you?
A: Music is a very powerful language, songs we learn as children remain with us forever, and the morals contained in them direct our choices and our lives. With this in mind, we created ‘My Earth Songs’. This is an effort to ensure a new generation of environmentally connected human beings. These songs launched by the UNICEF, are published in over 5 million textbooks in India (English, Hindi & Kannada languages). I am also in the process of releasing them in many more languages across the world. Children have responded amazingly to these songs, and have been pushing their school authorities to adopt more sustainable practices, go plastic-free, etc. I have never received so much fan mail in my life, as I have from the kids!

UNESCO MGIEP (Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development) appointed you as a global ambassador recently for one of their campaigns. What is the aim?
A: Yes, it is an honour to serve as UNESCO - MGIEP’s Global Ambassador of Kindness for their Kindness Campaign. It is a fantastic campaign which aims to inspire people to commit to acts of kindness. I also created an anthem called ‘Shine Your Light’ as their official Kindness Anthem. When I wrote the song, I did not realise that it would be so relevant in these times. This is also an anthem of hope, solidarity and unity. Through this song, we seek to inspire people to be kind to one another as a simple act of kindness can change lives and positively impact society. I will be launching my new song ‘Shine Your Light’ during my concert on the 22nd of April 2020 for Earth Day. 

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