: Rickey Kej Takes His Third Grammy: Who Was the First Indian To Win at the Awards? #IndiaNEWS #History At the 2022 Grammy Awards announced earlier today, India’s Ricky Kej made history by winning

Rickey Kej Takes His Third Grammy: Who Was the First Indian To Win at the Awards? #IndiaNEWS #History
At the 2022 Grammy Awards announced earlier today, India’s Ricky Kej made history by winning his third one for Best Immersive Audio Album for his album Divine Tides with rock legend Stewart Copeland. But do you know who was the first Indian to win one?

It was the late sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar, who collaborated with legendary violinist and lifelong friend Yehudi Menuhin to release ‘West Meets East’ in January 1967.

An eclectic work of art, the album won the Grammy for Best Chamber Music Performance in February 1968. The album was recorded following a groundbreaking duet they performed in June 1966 at the Bath Music Festival in the UK, where they mesmerised audiences.

But how did this collaboration first come about? Before we dwell on this historical friendship and the Grammy Award-winning album it produced, it’s important to present some context.

The dynamic duo performing together (Image courtesy: YouTube)

From different worlds

Born to Russian Jewish parents in New York City in 1917, Yehudi Menuhin first picked up the violin at the age of four. He had performed his first solo piece with the San Francisco Symphony by the time he was just seven years old. There was no looking back for this prodigious talent and master of the violin as he embarked on an illustrious musical career.

Despite his talent, Ravi Shankar took a different road to music stardom. After his parents died in his teens, Shankar gave up a career in dancing in 1938 to study the sitar and Hindustani classical music under court musician Allauddin Khan. After completing his training in 1944, he worked as a composer and performed in a variety of locations taking Indian classical music to the world and building a reputation as one of the country’s greatest musicians to date.

Another photo of Yehudi Menuhin and Ravi Shankar performing together (Image courtesy: Abbey Road Records)

Meeting of minds

In January 1952, the Government of India invited Menhuin to perform a series of concerts across the country’s largest metro cities — Delhi, Bombay (Mumbai), Bangalore (Bengaluru), Madras (Chennai) and Calcutta (Kolkata). Proceeds from these concerts would find their way to the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund. A lot of these performances were given in cinema halls, including the likes of Regal and Excelsior in Bombay and the New Empire in Calcutta.

During this 1952 visit, Menuhin was formally introduced to Shankar for the first time in Delhi, although they had met briefly in Paris 20 years earlier in 1932.

Shankar recalled to The Independent, “In January 1952, Yehudi Menuhin and his wife Diana came to India.