As a musician, it’s Ricky Kej ’s life purpose to ensure that his music acts as a catalyst for change. The UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador, who works extensively for climate change, feels strongly for the protection of the elephant. On World Elephant Day today, he tells us why his songs on the animal are close to his heart.
“My aim is to change behaviours with the emotional language of music, when it comes to sensitising ourselves to the elephants. Nowadays, when kids think about an elephant, they largely think about it in a zoo, or in a circus, or performing tricks or painting on a canvas, or throwing balls up in the air, or giving a joyride, etc. But it’s rare to have a child think about an elephant in a forest, which is wrong.
We need to educate our children and make them understand that an elephant is a wild animal and it belongs in the forest. That’s what I try to do through my music,” says the three-time Grammy winner, whose songs Kudrat and Elephant Bath are on elephants. Sharing how the tracks came about, Ricky Kej tells us, “My song Kudrat from the album Shanti Samsara was released at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris in 2015 and the song is very close to my heart because I made it after a small excursion in the forest with a wildlife filmmaker friend.
He taught me everything about the human and elephant conflict. We met villagers who live in the forests and forest officers and spoke about the effects of human encroachment of the forest lan.