Grammy-winning musician Ricky Kej’s latest album, Gandhi – Mantras of Compassion, is an ode to Mahatma Gandhi. “He has handheld us into the 20th. He has left his footprint on the world,” says the singer-composer whose past three Grammy-winning projects have each had a song on the Mahatma. “But I always wanted to dedicate an entire album to him,” says Ricky.

Cut to 2024 when he did a four-city concert tour along with another person he admires, Kailash Satyarthi, who leads a life based on the principles of the Mahatma. It was a fundraiser for Kailash’s movement for global compassion. Ricky got to spend time at Kailash’s Bal Ashram in Jaipur. That was when they decided to put together an album on Gandhi. It is an attempt to retell his ideals to a world filled with anxiety, war, hatred and unrest.

Kailash Satyarthi
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Special Arrangement

For the album, Ricky has collaborated with over 200 musicians from 40 countries, including a Charango player from Argentina, a Dan bau artiste from Vietnam and a guitarist from Chennai. The album has 11 songs, including five favourite hymns of the Mahatma, a Sanskrit translation of ‘The lord’s prayer’ and original compositions by Ricky.

Earlier this month, on his birthday, Ricky released a spiritual track from the album. Titled ‘We are one’, it is based on ‘Raghupati raghav raja ram’, another of the Mahatma’s favourite. The music video for the song, which was shot over two years with Ricky travelling to various sacred sites across the world, was recently unveiled at the Celebrating India Film Festival in New Delhi. 

“The track talks about oneness — a lot of rituals across religions are the same, and most of them have a common essence of love and compassion,” he says.