Ricky Kej On Sustainability, New Music, Stewart Copeland and More

Bengaluru-based composer-producer Ricky Kej recently performed at multiple Leela properties in Bengaluru, Chennai and Jaipur as part of the second edition of his Rhythm of the Earth concert series. This collaboration was a melodic journey that champions a shared commitment to sustainability between the artist and the company. In an exclusive interview with Kej after his Jaipur show this past weekend, he talks about the series, his ways of sustainability, what he’s currently working on, collaborating with American musician Stewart Copeland and more. Edited excerpts: 

Rolling Stone India: This is the second edition of your concert series Rhythm of the Earth, what do you recall from the first one? 

Ricky Kej: So last year, I’d done three cities — I [played] Chennai, Bangalore and Delhi. This year was supposed to be four — Jaipur, Bangalore, Chennai and Udaipur, unfortunately which has been postponed. 

Last year was a nice experience. I really loved it and also for me from the heart, I feel that this collaboration with The Leela is really important to me because they’ve always been extremely supportive of my career whenever I asked them for something. For example, last year I released a version of the National Anthem where I conducted a 100-piece British orchestra performing the Indian national anthem. So for the release of that video, I wanted to do a couple of press conferences. There were no questions asked as to how much branding will we get or what do we get in return. They were like, “Yeah, which cities do you want to do the press conference? Let’s do it.” Rhythm of the Earth is also an idea that we had come up with mutually and that’s it. Whatever we wanted in terms of technicals, in terms of everything, there’s a proper collaboration. 

At that time, did you think there would be a second edition of Rhythm of the Earth? 

That was not a thought. At that time it was basically focused on sustainability and on the environment because Leela is doing a whole lot of stuff with regard to that, reducing their plastic usage and their water recycling.

That resonated with me and so we thought, let’s do a collaboration based on that. It was just a concert and a beautiful dinner in these three cities. But this year it went to a whole new level because Mr. Kailash [Satyarthi, Nobel Peace Prize laureate] got involved. So that’s why it became bigger and better this time. I’ve been a lifelong fan of his, so to get this opportunity to collaborate with him was quite amazing.

I met him once in New York. This was in 2018, but it was one of those selfie things that I just went to him. I’ve always wanted to do something with him because his work goes beyond what people think it is. Right now, he’s got this movement, which is about compassion. At the end of the day, compassion is the most basic quality that is required.

What has it been like collaborating with The Leela?  

So it started off because of a friendship that I have with the general manager of the Bangalore hotel. He’s a veteran when it comes to the hotel industry. So it happened with a conversation with him, where we were talking about sustainability and he was telling me what all The Leela has been doing in terms of sustainability and that really got my interest. I’m like, “Why don’t we do something together?” I’m not hired by The Leela as an endorser. There’s no contract signed between The Leela and me when it comes to that. It’s just the relationship that I share with the brand and how nice the people are who run the brand.  

Did you always set out to be an artist who wanted to be outspoken about the environment? 

It wasn’t the goal, but it came out naturally. From my childhood, I’ve always been an environmentalist and a musician too. So when I got into music professionally, I thought it was a huge gift because my parents were dead set against me getting into a musical career. In fact, I had to do a degree in dental surgery just to keep them happy, but the aim was never to be a dentist or anything like that. The aim was always to be a musician. I just got the degree to keep them happy.

My musical career had already started by the time I was in my first year of dental college. I was doing music in the evenings. When I finished my degree, I was doing music full-time. So I realized that it’s a huge gift that I can be a musician.

What are some small ways people can improve in going about being sustainable? 

I’ve never considered myself to be an activist, but I’ve always considered myself to be an advocate. I like working with people. Even though protest as a medium is extremely important in a democracy, I believe that I’ve not taken that route. I’ve taken a route of no matter how much I hate a person, I will still work with them. I will find what their motivations are and figure out how I can work with them if I don’t like somebody’s policy, I will still work with them because I’ll figure out what their motivation was to create a bad policy and try to see how I can change their mind or how I can convince them that this is not the right way to reach the end goal that they themselves want to reach. So that’s the way that I have made my life.

That’s the reason why I love working with the United Nations. Because the United Nations has always worked like that, they work with whoever. For example, UNICEF, when the Taliban took over Afghanistan, UNICEF is working with them. Because at the end of the day, try to do at least some good work rather than shut that door completely.  

I don’t subscribe to fast fashion, so this suit that you see me wearing right now you’ll see it at least in another 10 to 11 other concerts. So I got this suit a couple of months back and I’ve been wearing it at every concert. The second thing is that I eat a meat-free diet. That is something that I definitely would not recommend anybody to preach simply because meat and diets come with a lot of cultural and traditional significances, and preferences and also it comes with a lot of dietary restrictions and dietary requirements. I would say that everybody should just make an informed choice and read about it and see what and where their path takes them. I know some very good environmentalists who are very passionate and they eat meat, so it’s all good. I’m an aspiring vegan, but I’m not a vegan yet.

Then the next thing is that I do not own a vehicle. I do not own a car. I gave up my cars in 2014 and I pushed myself to take public transportation. The last thing is that I get my carbon footprint audited every quarter. I have a firm that audits my carbon footprint. They audit everything — my air travel, land travel, ground transportation, ink usage, lighting usage at concerts and generator usage. And then we have a meeting where we figure out how we can reduce our carbon footprint for the next quarter and I mitigate the carbon footprint. 

What are you currently working on and what’s next? 

I’m co-producing my third album with Stewart Copeland. So we recorded that album in London for five days with an orchestra, and we spent some time post-producing the album. The album is almost complete. It looks like it will be released around October. Then I’m doing another album, which is about mental health. It’s an instrumental album and will be released in the next one or two months. There are a couple of tours in the U.S. and there’s a second India tour also happening.  

What’s it like working with Stewart Copeland? 

He’s just like an older brother to me. During the pandemic, I’d been constantly thinking about making a new album and then I reached out to Stewart and he agreed. I guess the only reason he agreed at the time was because he was also not touring because it was the pandemic. He loved the music, I showed him some pieces of the music. We decided to co-write the whole album and we decided to record the album from scratch, not the stuff which I’d already done.

We worked for almost a year on the album [Divine Tides] and we became the best of friends. We became extremely close. We knew about each other’s families. We really bonded like crazy, and I was also going through a lot of personal turmoil at that time. He was helping me out through all of that. Then we got nominated for the Grammy. We still had not met each other in person. After that, we would meet at the Grammys and then he told me that he’s got this concert in Nashville and asked me to come to Nashville seven days before and to hang out. So I went to Nashville. For me, it is a very emotional moment meeting him for the first time after the concert. And we hugged each other. I was in tears.

Then we met in Los Angeles later on and we shared a room, so that is how it was. Then we won the Grammy and at the Grammy stage, the thing is that they give you 45 seconds and only one person can speak if you win. So first of all, we were hoping to win and that our names will be called out and then we decided that he will speak. He was against the idea, but I told him that it’s better that he praises me rather than I praise myself [laughs]. They called our names, we went up on stage and he made a quick joke and then after that he realized that he knew the conductor who plays people off the stage. So he said, “This album is all about Ricky, this album is all about Mr. Kej.”

I had not prepared a speech and I was shocked. Then he looks at the conductor and it’s all in the video and he’s like “Don’t you dare.” Then I spoke, that was a huge moment for me because it showed me what a legend the guy is because he could have easily used up that 45 seconds. But he just decided that there’s this young guy whom he collaborated with. Not a week goes by that I don’t speak to him. He’s an absolute legend, an absolute great human being, easily, in my opinion, my favorite person right now on the planet.