Earlier this year, in February, the Bengaluru-based music composer, Ricky Kej, won the third Grammy Award of his career. On winning the award, Kej took to Twitter to dedicate the honour to India.
Just a few months on, Kej is back with another dedication to his homeland, this time with an instrumental rendition of the Indian national anthem with a 100-member British Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
The 60-second video – released on the eve of Independence Day, August 14 – commemorates the Indian Independence Day and is the world’s largest Symphony Orchestra to ever record the Indian National Anthem.
The full video, recorded at London's legendary Abbey Road Studios, will be released today to mark India’s 77th Independence Day.
Acknowledging the melodious rendition, the High Commission of India took to Twitter to share High Commissioner of India to the UK, Vikram Doaraiswami’s message to Kej on his spectacular project.
“We congratulate and thank Ricky for putting together a unique project,” said Doraiswami.
“Ricky is going to put it out as a tribute to India. Friends, I hope you're going to watch this because this is a unique way of using music to bring the world together and to use music to commemorate India and its history in our 76 years of independence. Thank you, Ricky. Thank you, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. And thank you friends, for watching this.”
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Sharing his excitement about the anthem, the internationally recognised composer and environmentalist told ANI, "I am feeling huge Pride. We are a new India. We are participating in international decisions like climate change and global economics. In fact, other countries are taking leadership from us. This anthem is a representation of the new India with the largest orchestra of 100 members of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra to ever record the Indian national anthem."
This is not Kej's first performance on this occasion. In 2022, he performed the anthem with 12 refugee singers from India. The singers were from Myanmar, Afghanistan, and Cameron, among other places.
*With ANI inputs