Ricky Kej, Vaswani among winners
LOS ANGELES: Bangalore-based musician Ricky Kej and activist Neela Vaswani won at the 57th Grammy awards for their work in album ‘Winds of Samsara’ and the documentary on Malala Yousafzai, respectively.
Kej was declared a winner for his collaborative album ‘Winds of Samsara’ in the New Age Album category. The artiste teamed up with South African flautist Wouter Kellerman on the album.
A self-taught musician Kej, 33, has previously composed soundtracks for Kannada films. ‘Winds of Samsara’ is his 14th studio album.
Other albums nominated in the category were ‘Bhakti’ by Paul Avgerinos, ‘Ritual’ by Peter Kater and R Carlos Nakai, ‘Symphony Live In Istanbul’ by Kitaro and ‘In Love And Longing’ by Silvia Nakkach and David Darling.
Vaswani, who is the author of the short story collection ‘Where the Long Grass Bends’ and memoir ‘You Have Given Me a Country’, won the trophy in the Best Children’s Album category for ‘I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up For Education And Changed The World (Malala Yousafzai)’.
In the album, she had narrated the audio version of the book of the same name.
Anoushka Shankar, 33, daughter of late sitar maestro Ravi Shankar, lost in the best world music album category. It was her third nomination in the category.
This year she was nominated for ‘Traces of You’, her seventh album featuring her half-sister Norah Jones on the track ‘The Sun Won’t Set’.
Sam Smith wins big
British crooner Sam Smith bagged four gongs including song of the year and record of the year for his mega hit ‘Stay With Me’ while Indian artists Ricky Kej and Neela Vaswani won two trophies at the 57th Grammy Awards here.
Smith playfully thanked his ex-lover for making it all possible. “I want to thank the man who this record is about. Thank you so much for breaking my heart ’cause you got me four Grammys,” he said.
The 22-year-old singer was also a winner for best newcomer and best pop vocal album for his debut ‘In the Lonely Hour’ but he failed to make a hat-trick with Beck emerging as the dark horse of the Sunday night ceremony by bagging the album of the year trophy for his critically-lauded ‘Morning Phase’.
Beck, 44, also a winner for best rock album, looked surprised as his name was announced but the audience was in for a bigger shock when Kanye West mock repeated his 2009 Taylor Swift stunt by trying to upstage the musician.
Beck was presented the award by Prince, who referenced killings of black people by police with a short speech. “Like books and black lives, albums still matter,” he said.
Three gongs
The other big winners of the musical extravaganza were Beyonce and Pharrell Williams as they both scored three gongs.
Williams, who performed on ‘Happy’ won best music video and best pop solo performance, while his ‘G I R L’ won best urban contemporary album.
Beyonce, another major performer of the night, took home best R&B performance and R&B song for ‘Drunk in Love’ and best surround sound album for self-titled ‘Beyonce’.
Both Williams and Beyonce subtly referred to the Ferguson killing by including ‘hands up don’t shoot’ gesture in their performances.
Eminem won best rap album and shared best rap/sung with Rihanna while Kendrick Lamar took best performance and song this year for ‘I’ in the rap category.
Jack White took best performance for his album ‘Lazaretto’ and the comedy-rock duo Tenacious D won for best metal performance. Paramore’s ‘Ain’t It Fun’ won best rock song.
Miranda Lambert won the best country album for ‘Platinum’ while Glen Campbell’s ‘I’m Not Gonna Miss You’ won best song, Carrie Underwood’s ‘Something in the Water’ best solo performance and the Band Perry best duo or group performance for ‘Gentle on My Mind’.
Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga nabbed best traditional pop vocal album and St Vincent won the best alternative rock album.
The ceremony was full of 23 performances with AC/DC, Rihanna, West, Paul McCartney, Madonna, Beyonce, Williams, Gaga, Bennett, Kisten Wiig, Katy Perry turning up on the stage.
President Barack Obama made an appearance to condemn sexual violence, saying, “It’s not OK – and it has to stop.”
The ceremony, which awards musicians in 83 categories, was hosted by rapper LL Cool, who returned for the fourth time.-PTI
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