Ricky Kej Comes Home to Rajasthan: Srajan The Spark Lifetime Achievement Award and The Earth Symphony in Udaipur
Srajan, in Hindi, means creation: the act of bringing something into being that was not there before. It is a word with a certain modesty to it. It does not claim genius, only the labour of making. It is also, as it happens, an apt name for a movement that has spent thirteen years making room for music that India was in danger of forgetting.
On 15 November 2026, that movement, Srajan The Spark, will present its Lifetime Achievement Award to Ricky Kej, the three-time Grammy Award winner and Padma Shri recipient, in Udaipur.
A homecoming, of sorts
Kej is usually associated with Bengaluru and with stages a long way from Rajasthan. But his father hails from the state, and he has made clear that this is what gives the honour its particular weight.
"I am thrilled as this is an award from India, my country. And not only that, it's an award in particular from Rajasthan, where my father hails from."
He will mark the occasion with The Earth Symphony, a concert for environmental awareness with no admission charge. The organisers expect close to 10,000 people. It will be Kej's first-ever public concert in Udaipur, and the programme promises songs on Rajasthan alongside his interpretations of folk songs from across India.
The formal title of the honour is the Hindustan Zinc-Srajan The Spark Lifetime Achievement Award. It will be presented at DPS School, Udaipur, by Srajan The Spark and the Bijay Kumar Surana Foundation, in collaboration with Hindustan Zinc Limited.
The company he joins
Lifetime achievement awards are only as meaningful as the list of people who have received them before. Here the list is a serious one. Past recipients of Srajan's honour include:
Padma Vibhushan Dr L Subramaniam
Padma Bhushan Vishwa Mohan Bhatt
A Sivamani and Pt. Ronu Majumdar
Usha Mangeshkar, Anup Jalota, Roop Kumar Rathod and Sudesh Bhosle
The composer duo Anand-Milind, and Anandji of Kalyanji-Anandji
Lyricists Yogesh and Sameer Anjaan, and poet and actor Shailesh Lodha
Classical, devotional, film and verse, all on the same roll. "It's absolutely amazing to be in that company," Kej says.
A movement that began over tea
The origin story of Srajan has a pleasing domesticity. It began in Udaipur in 2013, over a cup of tea, when Prasanna K. Khamesra, a retired IPS officer and a lifelong music lover, sat down with friends and decided to bring India's fading music, poetry and shayari back to the people.
Khamesra has long held that a career in the police and a private passion for music need not be at odds, and that through his years in service, neither stood in the way of the other.
What sets Srajan apart is its economics. It is entirely self-funded. Close to 1,500 industrialists and dignitaries who are members contribute from their own pockets, with no motive beyond affection for Indian music. From Udaipur, it has grown to 16 chapters in India and abroad, including Jaipur, Jodhpur, Ahmedabad, Delhi NCR, Kota, Hyderabad, Asansol, Chennai, Canada and London.
Its stage has hosted Anup Jalota, Pankaj Udhas, Suresh Wadkar, Usha Uthup and Nitin Mukesh, among others, and poets of the stature of Rahat Indori, Wasim Barelvi and Nida Fazli. Just as deliberately, it seeks out unsung artists and places young talent alongside the masters.
The ambitions are growing too. Srajan is working towards music schools across India, along with a Music Museum and Academy in Udaipur, where work is already under way.
"Ricky Kej has brought great recognition to India and Rajasthan, not only through his music but through his extraordinary work for environmental conservation across the globe," says Khamesra. "Srajan originated in Udaipur, and Ricky also has his roots in our state. We are immensely proud to honour him."
Why the pairing makes sense
At first glance, a composer known for global environmental albums and a movement devoted to ghazal, shayari and classical tradition might seem an unlikely match. Kej's own account of his music suggests otherwise.
"No matter how hard I try to make a completely western piece of music, there will always be a soul of India within that music."
His next project makes the connection explicit. Over the coming five to six years, Kej intends to document as many of India's tribal songs and musicians as he can, building a permanent archive of forms that have been passed down orally for generations and are now disappearing. These songs, he argues, carry indigenous knowledge about living alongside nature and about our place in the world.
His reasoning is worth quoting in full, because it is the most precise statement of why preservation matters to a contemporary artist:
"Art is all about breaking the rules, but you have to know the rules first in order to break them. That's why it's very important that these traditional forms of music are preserved. All other contemporary forms come from them."
It is, in effect, an argument for exactly what Srajan has been doing since 2013, work Kej describes as "fantastic". One builds archives; the other builds audiences. Both are acts of srajan in the older sense: making sure something continues to exist.
For more on music and the environment, read about the Aarey Music Festival's volunteer gathering, or about folk traditions finding a stage at the Pinguli Kala Mahotsav.
This article is based on information shared by the organisers of Srajan The Spark.
Frequently asked questions
When will Ricky Kej receive the Srajan The Spark Lifetime Achievement Award?
On 15 November 2026 at DPS School, Udaipur.
What is The Earth Symphony?
A public concert for environmental awareness that Ricky Kej will perform in Udaipur to mark the award. Entry carries no charge, and organisers expect close to 10,000 people.
Who founded Srajan The Spark?
Prasanna K. Khamesra, a retired IPS officer, founded the movement in Udaipur in 2013 and continues to lead it.
Kenneth Hopkins is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of AltBollywood. Indofuturist, posthumanist and unapologetically Indocentric, he describes himself as an epimemeticist, a swaraji, a freakonomist, a lexicographer and a cartochronicler, mapping the ideas, words and quiet shifts that shape Indian entertainment. Follow him on Instagram at @kennethhopkins.
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