London: India-based Ricky Kej's collaborated album "Winds Of Samsara" won the Best New Age Album trophy at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards here. Ricky teamed up with South African musician Wouter Kellerman for the album, which symbolises peace and harmony.
The website of the album describes the project as a "truly global effort", which draws inspiration from two cultures. The music of the album blends in the creative influences of the cultures to generate a sound of calmness and positivity. 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.
Another Indian artist to make it big at the awards this year was Neela Vaswani. She 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)". Vaswani narrated the audio version of the book. However, sitarist and daughter of late sitar maestro Ravi Shankar, Anoushka, who was nominated for her album "Traces of You" in the Best World Music Album category lost out to Angelique Kidjo's album "Eve".
