3 ways artists can protect Nature – according to Grammy Award winner Ricky Kej

Everything changed for Indian musician Ricky Kej when he won his first Grammy Award in 2015. „I decided to dedicate all of my music and my life to the environment and to having a positive social impact,“ he tells us. Ricky believes that the powerful, emotive medium of music can be the catalyst to convert mere awareness to action.

Nature is Ricky’s source of inspiration

As a composer, listening to music never inspired him to create music. „I have always been inspired by other mediums to create tunes and melodies.“  

„I realized that all music started with sounds from within nature, and humans imitating those sounds.“ Ricky also found a deep connection between music and nature, and: “I would see personality in every single creature,“ he says, including insects and reptiles. „I was definitely a weird child!“

3 roles artists play in the fight against climate change

According to Ricky, art can play an important role in three crucial ways:

• Inspiring conversations,
• empowering people and
• creating action.

„Only when people start acknowledging an issue and begin a dialogue, will a solution come.“ The biggest threat to the environment, Ricky says, was the constant thought, that someone else will make a difference.

„We are waiting for leaders, politicians, corporations, NGO’s to make a difference, when we need to empower ourselves and everyone around us to bring about change within our own lives, and thus make this world a better place for everyone around us.“

Ricky Kej

Are you an artist who wants to make a difference? Join Ricky Kej and artists around the globe – join the Beethoven Pastoral Project!

Music is a powerful language

„My ears have always been more important than my eyes,“ he says. While most of his classmates were fascinated by television and cartoons, Ricky was hooked in to his music system. „I would pull apart songs, try and figure out the instruments used.“

„Music is a powerful language not just for communicating a message, but to retain that message deep within the consciousness of a listener. And now, increasingly for conveying strong messages about how we need to work together to conserve nature, for our own survival.”