Ricky Kej presents a reimagination of Jana Gana Mana with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Indian instrumental maestros and 14,000 voices

After conducting the largest ever Symphony Orchestra (100-piece Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, UK) to perform the Indian National Anthem at Abbey Road Studios, London in 2023, Indian Music Composer and 3X Grammy winner Ricky Kej has taken his achievements one step further by breaking a Guinness World Record. Ricky has assembled an extraordinary ensemble of Indian living legends, culminating in a groundbreaking musical experience of the Indian National Anthem that also features 14,000 children and their voices.

Featuring luminous names like pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia (bansuri maestro, padma vibhushan winner), Rakesh Chaurasia (bansuri maestro, Grammy award winner), Rahul Sharma (santoor maestro), Amaan Ali Bangash & Ayaan Ali Bangash (sarod maestros), Sheik Mahaboob Subhani & Kaleeshabi Mahaboob (nadaswaram maestros), padma shri winners Dr Jayanthi Kumaresh (veena maestro) and Giridhar Udupa (virtuoso carnatic percussionist, playing the ghatam on this anthem).

In a remarkable addition, Ricky has also collaborated with Dr Achyuta Samanta, founder of the Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences, for a recording of vocals by a choir of 14,000 tribal children from Odisha, creating an awe-inspiring background element in the instrumental anthem. This event (the recording with the children) has set a new Guinness World Record for the Largest Singing Lesson, previously held by Sweet Adelines International, Nashville, USA with 6,651 participants. The video also features the 14,000 children forming a human map of India and the word Bharat in Hindi and English.

“When I recoreded the anthem with Royal Philharmonic Orchestra last year, I felt this would be my penultimate version of an attempt to recreate the anthem. I really thought I had done my best. But when this idea cropped up — first to feature the renowned instrumentalists from across the country and then to also feature the children — I had to change my mind,” begins Ricky.

The anthem, surprisingly, and quite sensibly doesn’t feature the lyrics of the anthem, thus encouraging the listener to sing along and feel like a part of it. “I really wanted to bring together some of my favourite performers including very well known ones and others who I believe need to be recognised too,” adds Ricky.

The recording will be released on the 14th of August (eve of India’s Independence) at 5 pm across all streaming platforms, YouTube and Ricky Kej’s social media accounts. In a move to further celebrate and share this historic achievement, the entire recording will be made available completely royalty-free for any purpose provided the content is completely unedited and unadulterated to ensure that there is no disrespect to the Indian National Anthem. Individual versions of this recording featuring each maestro performing the anthem from beginning to end will also be released after 15th August so the public has access to individual recordings by their favourite artistes.

The anthem was shot by renowned VR filmmaker Sairam Sagiraju and developers Krishnaprasad Jagadish and Raksha Rao created a virtual reality version of this project. For the first time, music lovers and tech enthusiasts can immerse themselves in an VR experience of our Indian National Anthem. This state of the art mixed reality journey will transport viewers directly into the studios where musical legends perform, allowing for an unparalleled level of interaction and engagement. This innovative rendition will be exclusively available on Apple’s Vision Pro through the Chaarana app.

This reimagination of the National Anthem will be released by Universal Music India at 5 pm, August 14, across all streaming platforms.

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