Winds Of Samsara by Ricky Kej, the Billboard No.1 album on the New Age Music Charts released in India by Times Music in September this year has received an even greater accolade via a nomination at the prestigious 57thGRAMMY AWARDS. News of the nomination was announced by the Recording Academy on Friday, December 5, 2014.

Winds of Samsara the debut collaborative album by Ricky Kej and renowned South African flutist Wouter Kellerman is nominated in the BEST NEW AGE ALBUM OF THE YEAR category for the 2015 GRAMMY AWARDS. With this, Ricky is the first Indian to be nominated in this category.

Winds of Samsara debuted at #1 on the US Billboard New Age Chart and continued to be in the Top 10 for the next 12 weeks. This masterful collaborative album by Kej and Kellermanalso debuted at #1 on the ZMR World Radio Charts.

Winds of Samsara was recorded over two years by Ricky Kej with over 120 musicians from five continents.A truly global effort; it has listeners from across the world and has succeeded in catching the attention of preferential music listeners as well. This boundary-breaking New Age album speaks through themes of World peace, spinning together forward-moving harmony, progressive composition, and technical prowess with a verve and passion never before attempted in this genre. Through this album, the star-matched duo Ricky and Wouter spotlights the musical, cultural and political connections between India and South Africa from Mahatma Gandhi to Nelson Mandela. Winds of Samsara is released in India on Times Music.

On being nominated, Ricky Kej “It is especially a proud moment for me to be nominated for a Grammy® and to go down in history with the likes of Peter Gabriel, Enya and Enigma. It is exhilarating to represent my country in such a respectable forum! This album is a dream come true for me, as it has challenged us as artists to push borders and to have the one common thread truly be the universal language of music. A recognition such as this humbles me and motivates me to continue spreading the message of peace and harmony through my music”.

Speaking on their association with the album, Mandar Thakur, COO, Times Music said “Times Music has always been committed to great music & talented artists. We have believed right from the start that Winds of Samsara is a very special album and that Ricky is a special and driven artist. We’re as excited as Ricky is about the nomination and wish him all the best for the Grammys”

A true wizard of the keyboard, manuscript page, and recording studio, Kej has earned multiple awards and honours for his composition and production exploits. His projects include creating music for five feature films, twelve albums released by Universal Music, and over two thousand commercials seen by audiences around the world. Recently Ricky has released his 4 albums – Ballad of Maya, Shanti Orchestra, Kamasutra Lounge and well acclaimed ‘Winds of Samsara’ in India on Times Music.

A student of both Western and Indian classical music, Kej composed original works for the opening ceremony of the Cricket World Cup 2012, held in Dhaka, Bangladesh; the ceremony was telecast to more than 200 countries and widely heralded for its artistry and execution. For such efforts, Kej was declared an “India Rules Artist” by VH1 in 2013.  Kej was nominated for a Cannes Advertising award for his Nike Jingle, and his previous album Shanti Orchestra was nominated for a ZMR Award (New Orleans) and a Hollywood Music and Media Award (LA).

Combining a keen sense of culture-jumping harmony, melody, and pacing, Kej synthesizes cutting-edge music technology and traditional instruments of both Indian and European origins into his work, both within the new age genre and beyond. He currently runs two state-of-the-art studios in Bangalore, the Raveolution Studios, where much of Winds of Samsara was developed from spark of an idea to finished album.

In what is seen as a major leap forward for India on the global music stage, Ricky Kej will grace the red carpet at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Sunday, February 8th, 2015 for the evening billed as Music's Biggest Night. 

Watch out for the Grammys in February and keep a lookout for the live telecast on Indian television.