Future Classic Women Awards – Ricky Kej

Hello and welcome to Future Classic Women Awards with me, Stefania Passamonte, on Women's Radio Station, the program where we search for the most amazing new female artists on the classical panorama. This is the 4th edition. Our 2nd episode have a very special guest. This is award-winning composer Ricky Cage. Hello Ricky! Hey Stefania, how are you? Uh, very good today, very good, and very glad to be speaking to you. Well, what is amazing is that we are recording it remote and you are not in the UK, you are in India, am I right, Vicky? Yeah, correct, I'm in India and it's 3:30 in the afternoon over here. Ah, fantastic. So the program is live every day at 10 AM and 10 PM London time and it's gonna be live for you in India at 3 PM and 3 AM every day for the next 2 weeks, and then of course available as well in podcast. Now Ricky is a Grammy winner and number 1 Billboard artist, internationally known music composer, and environment— and oh gosh, I can't say it— environmentalist. And we met at the Grammys several times, so he's a fellow member of the Recording Academy. And Ricky, I'd like to ask you, first of all, how is it to win a Grammy Award? No, of course, during my entire childhood and my musical career, I always felt that, you know, that the Grammys is something that is an unattainable dream. And I never even thought about, you know, that it wasn't even ever in the back of my mind that this would ever be possible during my lifetime, especially me being a musician in India. So of course, it was— it felt like an unattainable dream. And when I won it, it was one of the greatest experiences ever. Wow, I must have— I remember when I went the first time to the Grammys and my album was for the first time, you know, selected to be— to compete for the Grammys. That was like a dream come true. So I can't even think about— I didn't win yet, there is still time, but I'm sure there must have been some big, big shock to get the news, first of all to be nominated, and, you know, the last 5 shortlisted, and then also to win it. I mean, it's an incredible experience. Is that the best moment in your career, or you have better moments that you might recall? Or even being, you know, number one in the Billboard of the US charts? Because the Grammys itself, as you mentioned, it's in December that— and in that, in my particular case, it was December 2014 when I realized that I was nominated and You know, there is a 2-month waiting period from the time you're nominated to the actual ceremony when they announce if you've actually won or not. And a lot of people would ask me during those 2 months that, you know, are you nervous? Are you nervous? And I was never nervous simply because it hadn't even sunk in. The magnitude of what had happened to me had not even sunk in. But when I actually went to the ceremony in February of 2015 and I sat at the ceremony and I saw all these musicians that I've admired my entire life sitting down a few rows away from me, from Beyoncé to Hans Zimmer to Chick Corea, all these people sitting down a few seats away from me. That is when I started getting nervous because then the reality of the magnitude of this award started sinking in. And that is when I got very nervous. But then luckily and fortunately for me, I did win and they called out my name. So I went up on stage, gave the acceptance speech, and of course, after that, as they say, it is history. But that would not be the top moment in my life because after that I got to perform at the United Nations General Assembly in New York in 2016. So that's like, you know, the hall where every single world leader has stood and given a speech. And, you know, and every single peace treaty ever signed in the history of mankind has actually been signed over there. So that was a great, great experience actually performing at the United Nations General Assembly. I mean, you serve as a UNESCO Global Ambassador for Kindness and the United Nations Land Ambassador, and also you are Unicef celebrity supporter and ambassador for Heart Day Network. I mean, how do you combine environmentalism with music? So the thing is that ever since I remember as a child, I've always been two things. I've always been an environmentalist and I've been a musician. You know, as a small child, I used to keep wondering about, you know, the place of every animal on this planet. You know, I used to live in the middle of nowhere. My parents and I used to live in the middle of nowhere while I was a child. We used to have this foresty areas around our home, and a lot of these animals like insects and lizards and snakes would come into our home. And, you know, and my— I used to constantly think that why does everybody just immediately kill these animals? Because if they're meant to be killed, then, then, you know, then why do they exist on our planet? And later on, I started realizing that there is a complete ecosystem and we need to maintain this balance of this particular ecosystem, and that's the only way that we humans can survive. So I was an environmentalist even before I knew the meaning of the word environmental. And, uh, and later on, of course, like, you know, my music started reflecting that. And nowadays the only kind of music that I make is about sustainability and the environment and positive social impact around those areas. And that's the reason why I'm an ambassador with all these various organizations, because Whatever I do through music is basically advocacy through music about sustainability and positive social impact. Well, you know, I was so impressed. We met at the Grammys and I knew you as a composer. I knew about your albums that we're going to listen to some from, like the— some pieces like the Born From the Land, that is the United Nations Land Anthem, for example. But, you know, in the new music conservatories that I founded, the London Performing Academy of Music, I thought it would be amazing to have you as a professor for not only musical composition but also for activism in music. And that's something very important. I believe music has a big power that is not just the power of making people relaxing and having feelings, you know, excitement or celebrating big events, but it's also something that can raise awareness in the meanings of the music. So your albums, the latest for example, Divine Tides, it's another incredible album talking about the subjects, am I right, from the United Nations? True, because I've always believed that music is a very, very powerful language, not just for communicating a message, but for retaining that message deep in the consciousness of a listener. Like, for example, the songs that we learned during our childhood are the songs that we remember forever, and if there are any morals in those songs, then those models pretty much dictate our entire lives. And I've also believed that, you know, you can make— with all the problems that we face in our world, you can make 1,000 speeches. You can, you can put forth a huge amount of scientific data to people, showcase analytics. But what is required is for actually musicians to interpret these complex ideas and thoughts in the simplified and the emotional language of music so that you're touching the hearts and souls of people. And this is what will bring about behavioral change. Because I believe that everyone is aware of all the problems that we are facing in our world, but we are not converting that awareness into actually taking action within our own lives. And that is because we are not communicating to people emotionally. And I believe that it's, it's the responsibility of musicians to actually do this, to communicate all these messages emotionally through music, so that people will think about changes within their own lives. And that way we'll make a better world for, for everyone and everything around us. Absolutely, absolutely. Now, the first song that we're gonna listen today is called Shine Your Light. Would you like to tell us something about this song? So Shine Your Light is a song that I had created as the official kindness anthem for UNESCO. So it's a song about solidarity, it's a song about showing empathy around us, it's a song about just generally shining our light to everyone around us and, uh, you know, and, uh, you know, and behaving like a species, like how a species is supposed to behave, uh, by just helping each other out and, you know, and, and growing together as the human species. So that's what Shine Your Light is all about. Wonderful. Then let's listen to Shine Your Light by Ricky Cage. Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! We are all in this together. We are all in this together. And nothing can remind us like a simple act of kindness. Hey! And in the blackest of nights, just one flash of light shows we're not alone. No, not today. It is time. Let's do this. It's time. Our time. Let's do this. It is time to shine your light. Let's do this. It is time to shine your light. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. It is time. Shine your light. Koibiya, ake la naha. It is time, let's do this. It's our time, let's do this. It is time to shine your light. Let's do this. It is time to shine your light. Come on! It's time to shine your light. It's time, let's do this, it's our time, let's do this. It's time to shine your light. It is time to shine your light. Shine your light. And this was Shine Your Light, the kindness anthem for UNESCO, written by Ricky Cage. Um, so we are back on Future Classical Women Awards on the Women's Radio Station, and our guest is award-winning, uh, composer, uh, Ricky Cage, uh, from India. Ricky, um, when did you just— when did you start to learn music and how when maybe you knew that you would have become such a successful musician? So as I said, I've always been a musician. Even, even before I could play a musical instrument, I was obsessed with music while my classmates in school were fascinated by television and by cartoons and by radio. I mean that, you know, for me, my music system was pretty much the center of my universe, and I would listen to music all day long, try to understand different musical instruments used And then as I went through school, I was playing musical instruments and I was playing in various bands and I was already quite successful as a musician. Then when I got to college, that is when I decided to actually take a formal education in music, because up until then I was self-taught and I was doing pretty well, but I wanted to overcome a potential handicap that I would have later on in my life without having a formal education in music. So that's the reason why I took a formal education in music. Through the London School of Music. And, uh, yeah, and also I took a formal education in music with Hindustani classical music, which is the classical music form within India. And, uh, yeah, so that's, uh, that's my musical trajectory. Amazing. So did you study in the UK or you studied in India? I studied in India. I studied in India with a tutor but gave the exams with the London School of Music. I see, amazing. And what do you think about the lockdown? I mean, the international lockdown is going on and off. We are off here in the UK at the moment, but there is country that they're closing again. And about the distance learning? So I believe that we have to adapt to whatever the situation is because the music will definitely And we as musicians need to continue to express ourselves. We need to continue to educate more potential musicians. So I believe we need to take this as an opportunity because what I've noticed, at least when it comes to concerts, when it comes to the lockdown, is that there are advantages and there are obviously disadvantages with, you know, with remote concerts and with virtual concerts. The advantage is that the world is your playground, and it's the same thing with music education. Where a teacher in the UK can be teaching students from all over the world. And, uh, you know, and you can reach out to so many people from different cultures, from different ethnicities, different backgrounds, different countries, and like, you know, and you can teach them in your form of music. And, uh, therefore they can be a very strong cultural exchange. They can be a very strong, uh, you know, uh, amalgamation of ideas and things like that. So I believe that, uh, one has to look at it as an opportunity and figure out how best we can use this medium and how best we can use it to our advantage. Absolutely, absolutely. And actually, it was— well, I mean, during the lockdown you managed to produce an incredible album. It's the one that we're gonna listen later on, but it's such a powerful album. It's called Divine Tides and is competing right now for the next Grammy Awards. And is a unique collaboration with Stuart Copland. Would you like to tell us about this album? Yeah, sure. So, so after I won the Grammy Award in 2015, ever since then I've always been thinking about creating a follow-up to that album, and there have been a lot of ideas and thoughts in my head about the different melodies and things like that. But then over the next 6 years, that's what happened. The The album just remained in my head and I wasn't actually recording the album because of my intense touring schedule, because I was touring a lot and performing a lot. Like, for example, in 2019 I did 70 concerts in just that one year in about 13 countries. And so there was time for me to record the album. But then in 2020, from March onwards, the lockdown happened and we were forced to stay indoors. So I was in my studio pretty much 24 hours a day. And then that is when I started actually these pieces of music together. And then I contacted Stuart Copeland through a common friend and I played him the music and I requested him to join me on this journey of this album. And he had actually retired from making albums. So Stuart Copeland was not recording anymore and he had pretty much retired from that scene. But I actually convinced him to come out of retirement and join me for this album. And he looked at it as an opportunity too, because The thing is that he has been traveling around the world for the last like 40 years, and during this time he's collected so many of these ethnic instruments from different parts of the world, from China, from, uh, from, uh, from Vietnam, from, uh, Russia, from different parts of Europe, from different parts of Southeast Asia, uh, South America. So he's collected all these different instruments, and he's never had an opportunity to actually record these instruments, even though He's been playing with these instruments for fun. So with this album, he had this opportunity to pull out all ethnic percussion instruments and actually record them for the album. Amazing. Well, the album is a collection of, um, has some very, very, uh, important meanings. Is, uh, taking the, uh, the various, um, objectives, am I right, from the, uh, United Nations for the Environment, and you create songs that they are made, uh, with, um, uh, in a way that, uh, the children can understand, like the nursery rhyme, and then be able to, um, to make them their own for forever. So a way to stick this very important principle to the memory as well of the, of everyone. Um, how, how did you do that? So that was actually another project. It's a project called My Earth Songs. So this is a project that I initiated a while back, but, but it's an ongoing project. So what I thought of that the United Nations has got these goals known as the Sustainable Development Goals, and there are 17 goals which the United hopes that the 193 member countries of the United Nations will achieve these goals by 2030. And some of these goals are, you know, eradicating poverty, eradicating hunger, education for all, health for all, clean water and sanitation for all, gender equality, climate action, protecting life on land, protecting life underwater. So these goals, so they want to achieve these goals by 2030. So I took these complex ideas and these complex thoughts that the United Nations had, and I simplified them for children like nursery rhymes. And I created this project known as My Earth Songs along with two friends of mine, that is Lonnie Park from New York and Dominic de Cruz from India. And currently these particular nursery rhymes that I've created are in, uh, we are currently in about 7 or 8 million textbooks in India and different parts of the world, and we hope to, uh, to achieve about 20 million textbooks by 2022. So the idea is that children will sing these songs at a very young age. And, you know, and as I said, the songs that you learn during your childhood are songs that you never forget. And the current nursery rhymes, like for example, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, teaches us nothing about stars. And, you know, Baa Baa Black Sheep teaches us nothing about sheep, you know. So I felt that these nursery rhymes would be good to start the conversation on sustainability and on conservation, on gender equality at a very young age and in a very fun way through music. You know, so that we have a very, very conscious generation, a very conscious next generation. Absolutely. That's a very clever way to use music as well in music education. Often music education is something that is put as a secondary subject, isn't it, in schools? Particularly here, there is a big debate about the public funding for music education. Education in primary school and in public schools. And we've been doing a lot of studies. I've been following as well as an active educator about the, the effect of music education on the abilities of the students in learning other subjects as well. And so if you combine that as well with actually teaching environment activism and, you know, things that will help the consciousness of the next generation to take care of the planet and to take care of each other with equality and diversity, then music becomes an even more powerful tool than what it is already. Agreed 100%. And another way to look at it also, why I believe that music education is really important, is that when you educate a child in music, it's not that every child needs to become a musician or a professional musician. But I would say that maybe few of them become professional musicians. The more important thing is that the rest of the children become great appreciators of music and the art form. And I guess that's what we need in this world. We need people to appreciate music as an art in a very good way, because that is how, you know, all this, all the bad music in this world will be eliminated. Because if people learn how to appreciate good music, they're not going to listen to bad music. That's a very good point, very, very good point. I mean, what I'd like to know actually is, did you learn classical music when you started learning music, or like classical Indian music, or it was like more modern music, commercial music? It was classical piano. I learned classical piano, and second thing that I learned was Hindustani classical, so I learned both forms of classical music, that is what we call the Western form of classical music and the Indian form of classical music. Fantastic. So this is something that I'm very passionate about. There is not just the Western classical music, as you said, there is also the Indian classical music, there is African classical music, South American classical music, and even jazz now becomes classical in its own right because it has its own traditions and rules. And I believe that all styles can learn from each other as well. How different is classical music, the Western classical music, to the Indian classical music, if you could find a way to describe this? Western classical music is a little more rigid in terms of, like, you know, there is sheet music and, you know, and you have to make the music in— yeah, you have to, you have to create the music in such a way or you have to play the music in such a way that multiple instruments, the instrumentalists are playing in harmony with each other. So that is why a lot of practice, a lot of rehearsal is required. Whereas Indian classical music, in my opinion, is more closer to jazz music actually, because Indian classical music is very, very improvisational in nature. In terms of that, you know, that Indian classical music, just like how Western classical music has got scales, we've got something Rags. And these rags are very, very well-defined scales with the usual ascending notes and descending notes, and also very strongly defined quarter tones. And how do you glide from note— one note to another? So a lot of this is based on feel, and a lot of this based on, uh, you know, on, on mood. And, uh, and again, like, you know, it's a very solo-based form of music where it's usually a soloist like a sitar player or a flute player or a vocalist or a veena player, and, you know, and with an accompanist. So I would say that that's the reason why when it comes to Indian forms of music, the collaborators are usually jazz musicians rather than classical musicians. So you find like Snaky Poppy collaborating with Indian classical musicians, or you find people like Chick Corea and John McLaughlin, Ray Cooder, because because the thing is that jazz music is far more conducive to collaborations with Indian classical music because of the rich heritage of improvisation. So that's, I guess, the difference between Indian classical music and Western classical music. And what we want to do actually at the London Performing Academy of Music is to become the home of the classical Indian music here in the UK. So we have, together with you, we also have Kulit Bambra, MBE, that is going to Tabla and Indian Composition professor, and Talvin Sik, who is another very esteemed representative of the tabla. Yeah, amazing, amazing composer and artist. And, um, and this is something very important because the classical music conservatories normally they are closed to the Western traditional music and they're not thinking about the fact that in the 21st century actually we, we are opening up to the world and there is a traditional classical music from different cultures as well, and that they deserve to find a home where to be, to be learned properly. Do you have this type of conservatories in India where you learn classical Indian music? So the Indian classical music is taught in a completely different methodology. It's known as the gharana concept, where you have a guru. So basically what you do is that you have to find a guru, or the guru finds you, and you learn from tutor, and the tutor basically understands you as a person, as an individual, and pretty much tailor-makes the course for you as a person, you know, and, and, and guides you through that. So, so we do have like sort of like a mild conservatory type system where we have a couple of schools where there are multiple students per teacher, but the most successful musicians in India have come from this particular gharana concept which I mentioned. Where it is a single tutor who is basically tailor-making the, uh, the roles, uh, tailor-making the course for the particular student. And, uh, and that teacher is known as a guru. Wow, so fascinating. I actually had the first contact with this with, uh, Bhai Baldeep Singh, who is, uh, um, an exponent of a specific type of classical Indian music. And we have at Alpimam, um, Czesław Czesław, who is as well a professor, is going to be a professor, he's at the moment translating Czesław Palaszynk. He's transcribing the oral tradition from this very ancient classical Indian music into Western notation so that, yes, Western musicians will be able to play that music, understand the rhythm. It's writing a very huge book, um, that is gonna come up soon. And, um, and it's wonderful to be able to have this type of collaboration where you can, um, understand and bring these things that will push as well the Western classical music towards a more worldwide type of classical music. Um, and well, the next song we're gonna listen to, uh, it's time for more music, is Born from the Land, and that's the United Nations land anthem, right? Featuring Baba May and Lonnie Park. And I'm gonna ask you to tell us something about this after we listen to it. Know we'll always have a home, a solid ground beneath our feet. The earth we walk upon, build our homes upon, she can provide our every need. But we need to stop and look around and marvel at all in all its beauty. Let's celebrate the joy of life. Oh, we're born from the land. Oh, you and I and all of life. Oh, we're born from the land. Yeah! Let's celebrate the joy of life. Oh, We're born from the land. Oh, you and I and all of life. Oh, we're born from the land. You and I and all of life, we're born from the land. Let's celebrate the joy of life. Oh, oh, oh. We're born from the land. Oh, oh, oh. You and I and all of life. Oh, oh, oh. We're born from the land. Yes, we are. Let's celebrate the joy of life. Oh, oh, oh. We're born from the land. Beautiful. This was Born from the Land, the land anthem for the United Nations, uh, by Ricky Cage featuring Baba Mai and Lonnie Park. Would you like to tell us something about this land anthem, Ricky? Sure, would love to actually. So this is a song that's quite close to me because it was created, as you mentioned, as a land anthem for the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. So basically, this is an organization within the United Nations that works towards ensuring that land is fertile and land continues to grow food and, you know, and earn us livelihoods. It is said that cheapest solution towards solving the climate crisis is actually ensuring that land is not degraded because land actually captures a lot of carbon from the atmosphere. So land has got a very high carbon capturing capacity. And because of this, like, you know, just ensuring that land is fertile is a really good way to mitigate the effects of climate change and also ensuring livelihoods for everybody around us. So collaborating with me on this song is Baba Maal. Baba Maal is a a complete legend from Senegal. In fact, a lot of people around the world know him as being the voice of Wakanda. That is, in the Marvel Black Panther movie, all the African voices that you hear in the Oscar-winning soundtrack of that movie is basically Baba Maal's voice. So he's a great, great legendary singer from Senegal, and it was a huge honor to collaborate with him and also perform a concert with him for this particular song. Amazing, amazing. And so how did you become an ambassador for the United United Nations, or— and for— how does that happen? I mean, they just call you and said, you know, we like you, and, uh, or you ask them? So the way— it's a silly question, but you know, it's, it's, it's very unusual, you know, it's very unusual to find an ambassador for, uh, the United Nations, for example. So UNICEF basically got in touch with me, so because, uh mentioned that all of my music is about sustainability and about positive social impact. And so, you know, so a couple of officials from the United Nations had attended a concert of mine and then they came backstage, they spoke to me. And then so that's— but right now I'm an ambassador with 3 of their organizations. So yeah, so it happened like that. You know, it's sort of like snowballed into that where people would get in touch with me and they would say that, you know, we've got a lot of messages that are in alignment with what you do. So why don't we work together, you know, and we work together and spread these messages across the world. So that's how I became an ambassador with them. So I would say it's hard to make the question what was the most exciting moment in your career. I think it would be how many exciting moments do you have in your career. So would you, you know, normally I have this question like who was your inspiration, but your journey looks like a very original journey. Do you, do you think about anyone, or it's just like you are inspired by, uh, the people you're working with, for example? No, true, actually, that's a very good point. I'm always inspired by the people I work with because while collaborating with musicians, uh, the beginning of my musical career, I've always followed one rule that I only collaborate with musicians who are better than me. So basically every single album that you have heard right from the beginning of my career 20 years ago Till today, every single musician you will find on the inlay card or credited, even if there are 100 musicians, every single one of them is a better musician than me. Because for me, the whole experience is that I work with people to make my music better, and better musicians than me will make my music better, and I also get to learn from them. So, uh, so that is I always follow while collaborating with musicians. Amazing. But what would you say was the most challenging, uh, project you worked on, or, and also the most challenging, uh, venue where you performed. So I would say the most challenging project that I worked on is the current album that I'm promoting. It's Divine Tides, one with Stewart Copeland, simply because we had to record in, in very terrible conditions of lockdown and uncertainty and things like that, you know. And so that was a little difficult, and, uh, Because it was not just recording with Stuart, who was all the way in, uh, in Los Angeles, but also recording with all these other musicians from around the world on this album, because there are more than 100 musicians on this particular album. And it was, it was quite difficult to coordinate all their timings and to work on different time zones for each person. So that was quite challenging. The most challenging venue that I've ever performed at, and the most challenging, I would say that, uh 2 of them actually. One was basically, uh, uh, you know, I had performed at this particular event, uh, you know, for the President of India. And, uh, so normally what happens is that we do a sound check and we do a small rehearsal in the morning of the event where we bring in all our equipment, we test all our equipment, and we do a run-through. And, uh, then we go back to our hotel rooms, and then we come back for the concert, which is usually in the evening. So we did the same thing in this case. We Set up all our equipment, everything was done. We went back to our hotel room. We came back about like 15 or 20 minutes before the concert was supposed to start and none of our equipment is on the stage. What? So basically the security detail people of the President of India, they just removed all our equipment from the stage. And that was shocking because imagine removing a drum kit from the stage, removing all the boards and removing all the electronics and the stage monitors and Everything was removed. So it was, I think, one of the most stressful moments of my life. And then what we had to do is that we had to, uh, we had to work really hard within 15 or 20 minutes. My technical team and my staff had to bring back all the equipment on stage within 15 minutes. But luckily, that was a very, very successful concert. And another concert would be, I think, the one which I mentioned at the United Nations General Assembly. So luckily, the sound check was a day before.. And the security protocol was so tight because almost 190 presidents and prime ministers were going to be entering that particular venue the next day. So the security protocol was crazy. And so we went the previous day for the sound check and for the, for the technical stuff. And my entire technical crew was not allowed inside. So it was just me and my singer, that is Lonnie Park, the two of us. Setting up all the equipment ourselves. So it was very funny, you know, because the thing is that we felt that, you know, we've reached the stage in our career where, you know, we've got all these people helping us out and we've got a huge crew to help out. And we were very, very humbled that day, you know, that now we have to carry all the equipment ourselves and we have to place everything ourselves. Absolutely. But also, you know, I mean, you can't think about going on stage and performing and have to set up the stage yourself. That's basically impossible. I mean, as a musician myself, if the piano is not in the right position, the stool is not at the right, you know, height and everything, it takes away from the concentration from— and already you're stressed and then you get this extra— I don't know how you did it really. But it was— luckily for us, it was a day before, so, you know, so I was a little more relaxed. There was no stress. And also the other thing was that I'm very happy that that particular moment happened the day before because You know, I got very nervous when I entered that hall because it was the first time that I was entering the United Nations General Assembly hall. And it is very, very humbling. It's a very, very humbling experience entering that hall, you know, because, because you suddenly start thinking about the history within these walls and, you know, who all have walked over here, who all have been here, who all have stood on that particular stage. So, so luckily the nervousness went away because I was there a day before and the concert went off extremely well the next day. Now, when you were a child, uh, or even a younger man, um, were you thinking about politics? I mean, now in a way activism is connected with politics, and although there are people that they don't like to think about politics, it's a very important part of our life because this is the one that is basically helping everyone put in place rules, you know, principles that will help save the planet, really make us live better, if not actually survive this planet. So where are you thinking about politics when you were younger, or that didn't occur to you that would go so much with activism in environments, environmentalism? So I've always been interested in our planet and the workings of, like, you know, what we do as, as human beings. I've always been interested in that. And when it comes to politics, I would say that I am apolitical in the sense that I do not support any political side. I do not consider myself to be a left-wing person or a right-wing person. Yeah. But at the same time, what I have always believed is that in my, uh, in the things that I want to get done, uh, I believe that, uh, whoever is in charge, like, you know, whether it is a government that I hate or a government that I love The objective should be to just work with whoever is in charge to get things done in a positive way. So that's how I have always run my life and my brand of activism, that, you know, that I do not care who is in power, but I will work with whoever is in power to get things done. Absolutely. That's a wonderful way of putting it. And that's what I think should be taught in school as well. I remember when I was in school, high school in particular, you started to learn about politics you start to get ready to your very first time when you're going to be able to vote and give your opinion and contribution to society. And that would be people against it and saying, oh no, politicians are this and that. Politicians, they have such a burden on their shoulder as well, no matter which side they are, no matter if they're good or bad, they still have this huge burden of the full nation, and in the United Nations is the full planet basically, isn't it? Yeah. So, and, and it's amazing that music can talk to those incredible people and can help change things in the world. So my very deep respect to you and to your wonderful music. So the next song we're gonna listen is The Art of Devotion And that's from your latest album with Stuart Copeland. And this was, um, Art of Devotion, uh, with the Stjörtkaplan by, uh, Ricky Cage for their, uh, for their latest album Divine Tides. Now, Ricky, this is the last part of our interview. An hour goes so fast, it's unbelievable. So it's the part where we ask the, the odd questions. So the first one is, do you have any hobby to free your mind or relax, apart from of course composing music? So I'll, uh, two things actually. I love watching movies, so I watch a lot of movies, and I've got this beautiful home theater at my studio, so I don't need to step out of my studio. I've got this massive screen and, you know, and nice surround system. And the second thing is, of course, my dogs. Basically, I've got two dogs and they are with me in the studio all the time. And so basically, these are the two things that, you know, that keep me sane. I've seen pictures of your dogs on the social media and they're super cute. Do they sing when you perform, when you compose music? I had experience with the dogs. For example, they would be loving. In particular, there was a— it was, uh, the dog of some friends that was playing a parade by Bach, the one that goes— and every time this English setter would start to ululating, that was amazing. He must have been a musician in his previous life or something like that, because was just too much in tune and too much with that specific piece. It was incredible. So do your dog do something similar? No, I don't think my dogs like my music actually, because they don't react to it. That's very funny. All right, and do you have any ritual or superstition before you go on stage? No, I don't have any ritual actually, because I'm not superstitious at all by nature, but I do feel very, very nervous before going on stage. And that is something that, you know, that is something that happens every single time before I go on stage. I feel very nervous even though I've done so many concerts. I've done more than 300 major concerts. The thing is that just before I go on stage, I start sweating a lot. I almost start panicking and, you know, and I always feel that everything's going to go wrong. Then I forget everything. So all these things happen on stage. All right, well, I'm surprised, you know, because normally you might think that after having so— becoming a veteran basically of concert performance, you become used to it. But do you prefer to perform live on stage or to record in the recording studio? It keeps changing actually, because sometimes I'm recording and like, for example, during recording Divine Tides Stuart Copeland. I was really enjoying myself, you know, recording. And, uh, you know, and I felt that, you know, I'm enjoying this more than being on stage because of course I could not go on stage because of the pandemic. But nevertheless, right now I'm craving to go back on stage. So I really, really want to go back on stage and, you know, and perform in front of audiences and showcase all this music that I've created to a live audience. You know, I really want to do that. Well, Normally this question comes after, but I'm gonna ask you right now. So what's your next concert, if you have one already on the diary, or of course your next project apart from going to the Grammys? So concerts, there are a whole lot of inquiries and a lot of thoughts and all of that stuff, but there is no concert that has come up yet. But I did a I did a concert for, uh, our, uh, for, uh, you know, the Chief Minister of our state in India. Uh, I did a concert about 2 days ago, uh, but, uh, but that was a small private concert. But I'm just waiting for the music festivals to open up so I can start performing over there. But my next project that I'm working on right now is something known as, uh, Women Off the Record. So this, this, you might find it interesting because of the radio station that we are on right now. Exactly, yeah, we did talk about this and that's exactly what I wanted you to talk about today because that's something that is going to be absolutely fantastic for our program Future Classical Women Awards on the Women's Radio Station. Yes, tell us about it. Oh, wonderful. So the thing is that, long story short, in the early 1900s the British came to India while we were still ruled by the British. The British came to India with the first gramophone recorders and they wanted to record Indian classical singers So they traveled the length and breadth of India, but the men refused to record because there was a superstition that if they record— if they recorded into the gramophone recorder and if they sang into the gramophone recorder, then they would lose a part of their voice and a part of the voice would get inside the recorder. So they had this superstition, and whereas the women understood that this was all nonsense and the women were far more intelligent and they decided to go ahead and they decided to record. So there were about— there were a huge number of women all the way from 1900 to about 1935, where a huge number of women became superstars because they would constantly record, they would demand a huge amount of fee, and they became really, really popular across the world, in fact, because these records were sold all over the world. So around 1935 is when the men realized, oh my God, these women are becoming far more popular than us. And then they decided to take corrective measures. So what they did was that they basically started maligning these women, and they started saying these women are prostitutes and these women are performing women and they are not good women and things like that. And they started disgracing women, number one. And number two is that they started destroying all the records of these women in India so that they would be completely forgotten. And for the last almost like 60 to 70 years, the history of these women have been completely forgotten. So what a friend of mine, Vikram Sampath, and I did was that we traveled the whole of India to all these, uh, different villages and small towns, and we found the surviving records of these women, and we digitized them, and we've released this particular album and a book with Penguin Publishers, which is a UK-based production, uh, UK-based publisher. We released it with Penguin. This book is known as Women of the Record. Which tells the stories about these women, and also it comes with a CD with the songs of 40 of these brave and amazing women. Wonderful. Well, definitely we want to have you back on our program to talk, to hear these women singing. And so the last part, the last song that we will play today, so it's Himalayas with Stuart Copeland from Divine Tides. Would you like to to tell us about this song? Yes, so the song from Divine Tides is called Himalayas. Now this was a dedication to the Himalayas, that is the greatest mountain range in the world and the mountain range which has got the highest peak, that is Mount Everest, and it passes through many, many countries. Now the beauty of the Himalayas is that the Himalayas holds the third largest source of water in the world after, you know, the North Pole and the South Pole. The Himalayas has got the most amount of pure water. And, uh, you know, and some of the rivers in the world, like the Ganga, flow from the Himalayas. And like, for example, the river Ganga nourishes the lives of more than 500 million people on this planet. So that is, uh, so that is the beauty of the Himalayas. So this particular song is a tribute to the Himalayas, and we actually filmed the music video. And I would encourage everybody to watch this music video on YouTube. We filmed the music video at an elevation of 12,000 feet within the Himalayas. So we were breathless during the shoot, and you know, and you know, it was difficult to breathe in that particular air, but it was an amazing, amazing experience. Fantastic. Well, let's close our interview then with Himalayas by Ricky Cage with Stuart Copeland from the album Divine Tides. And this was Himalayas by Ricky Cage and Stuart Copeland from the album Divine Tides. Um, if you have any questions that you would like to ask to our guest or nomination for future Classic Women Awards, please email presenters@womensradiostation.com or tweet us @womensradiostationstn. Big thanks again to our fantastic special guest Ricky Cage from India. Thank you, Ricky. Thank you so much for having me on the show. It was a really, really fun conversation. It was very fun and also very interesting and very, you know, open-minded, you know. Thank you so much for everything you're doing and for the beautiful music that we played today. You've been listening to Future Classical Women Awards on Women's Radio Station live every day at 10 AM and 10 PM London time and available online everywhere around the world. If you would like to listen to it again or catch up Catch up on our previous programs. You can head to my presenter page, Stefania Passamonte, Future Classic Women Awards, on womensradiostation.com. Thank you for listening.