Ricky Kej celebrates the Mahatma in his upcoming album, Gandhi – Mantras of Compassion

In an age of polarised politics and daily headlines of conflict, three-time Grammy winner Ricky Kej believes the world is crying out for a different kind of soundtrack. His answer arrives in July in the form of Gandhi – Mantras of Compassion:  a sweeping, 11-track meditation on the Mahatma’s message of peace, tolerance and environmental stewardship. Conceived as a collaborative labour of love, the album unites more than 200 musicians from five continents — among them Grammy nominee Tina Guo, Japanese composer-producer Masa Takumi and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Kailash Satyarthi — to breathe new life into the hymns and ideals that shaped India’s greatest apostle of non-violent resistance: MK Gandhi.

“I’ve always wanted to devote an entire record to the Mahatma,” Rickey tells us. “He pops up all over my catalogue — there’s Mahatma on Winds of Samsara and Gandhi on Divine Tides — but a full album felt like the logical culmination.” The spark came last year, when Ricky joined Kailash on a tour championing child rights. “Kailash has a beautifully simple definition of compassion: selfless problem-solving. Gandhi is his lifelong hero, so we kept circling back to the idea of setting the Mahatma’s favourite prayers to contemporary music. That was the birth of Mantras of Compassion.”

Those favourite prayers songs and verses form the beating heart of the record. Timeless bhajans such as Raghupati Raghava Raja Ram, Vaishnava  Jan To and Mirabai’s devotional Payo Ji Maine sit alongside Abide With Me — Gandhi’s cherished Christian hymn — and The Lord’s Prayer. To complement the five reworked hymns, Kej penned six original compositions that expand Gandhi’s teachings into 21st‑century concerns. Tracks will weave recordings with flutes from Ravichandra Kulur and the nimble sitar of Purbayan Chatterjee. While Tina, Masa and Kailash form the core partnership, Ricky also collaborated with Police drumming icon Stewart Copeland; the late folk troubadour Peter Yarrow; and songwriter Philip Lawrence — best known for his work with Bruno Mars, among many others. The New York Youth Symphony adds youthful exuberance, while Los Angeles‑based choir Tonality, provides choral gravitas. Closer to home, the Bengaluru‑based producer and musician assembled an all-star Indian contingent too: vocalist Varijashree Venugopal, violin virtuoso Manoj George and rising carnatic star Shradha Ganesh among them.

Releasing on all streaming platforms on July 14.

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