Ricky Kej – Shanti Samsara (Zee Music Company, 2015)
Shanti Samsara, the magnificent album by composer, producer and keyboardist Ricky Kej brings environmental awareness to the world. Ricky Kej brought together renowned international musicians from various genres to create an epic album.
The result is Shanti Samsara, an exquisitely-crafted album that combines cinematic Indian and western classical music traditions, world music from various continents, new age, Buddhist monks, a gospel choir and the voice of the Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe. There is also spoken word featuring Sanskrit verses by Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan as well as narrations by Hollywood actresses Frances Fisher and Rosanna Arquette.
In this recording honoring nature, Kej includes the orchestral sounds of the outdoors: a tabla rhythm of rain drops; drums of thunder; sitar undulations of running water; and choirs of blooming flowers.
Shanti Samsara was created for presentation at the United Nations Conference on Climate Change 2015. What’s fabulous about this album is that it’s bringing awareness about the deterioration of our planet to audiences across the globe.
The lineup on the album includes dozens of musicians and singers from across the global. Guests include country music artist Gary Nicholson, Canadian singer Jennifer Gasoi, flute player Wouter Kellerman, the Soweto Gospel Choir, vocalist Ani Choying Drolma, veena virtuoso Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, zheng master Mei Han and lots more.
This production included stunning musical videos that we are sharing here:
The CD booklet contains several pages of credits with beautiful, colorful artwork.
Shanti Samsara is a spectacular production that shows through music and spoken word the best humanity can offer.
Buy Shanti Samsara in the Americas
Buy Shanti Samsara in India
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.
