Ricky Kej performs free concert

FPJ News Service:

Three-time Grammy Award winner and Padma Shri recipient Ricky Kej will receive a lifetime achievement award in Udaipur on November 15.

Kej will mark the occasion with The Earth Symphony, a free concert aimed at raising environmental awareness, which is expected to draw nearly 10,000 people. It will be his first-ever public concert in Udaipur and a homecoming of sorts for the musician, whose father hails from Rajasthan. The evening will feature songs about Rajasthan, along with his renditions of folk songs from across India.

He will receive the Srajan The Spark Lifetime Achievement Award from Srajan The Spark, a movement of music lovers dedicated to preserving India's musical heritage and headquartered in Udaipur.

With this honour, Kej joins an illustrious list of past recipients, including Padma Vibhushan awardee Dr L Subramaniam, Padma Bhushan awardee Vishwamohan Bhatt, A Sivamani, Pandit Ronu Majumdar, Usha Mangeshkar, Anup Jalota, Roop Kumar Rathod, Sudesh Bhosle, the musical duo Anand-Milind, Anandji of Kalyanji-Anandji, lyricist Yogesh, Sameer Anjaan, and poet and actor Shailesh Lodha, among others.

“It’s absolutely amazing to be in that company,” said Kej. “I am thrilled as this is an award from India, my country. And not only that, it’s an award in particular from Rajasthan, where my father hails from.”

Prasanna K Khamesra, a retired IPS officer who founded Srajan, said Kej had brought great recognition to India and Rajasthan.