Ricky Kej talks about his five favourite collaborations

Grammy winner, musician and Ricky Kej is a formidable name in world music. His unique collaborations, all of which are aimed at spreading awareness towards a better and greener earth, are something every music lover looks forward too. He lets us in on a secret, "I only collaborate with musicians who are better than me, so that I can learn from them and better my skills." He tells #QuickTakesWithBangaloreTimes about his favourite collaborations: 1. Wouter Kellerman from South Africa: He's a very famous flautist. I admired him and always wanted to work with him. We met in Los Angeles and both of us were wondering how to collaborate. As fate would have it, we had a whole lot of coincidences. I'd just finished making a piece of our Father of the Nation - Mahatma Gandhi - and he'd just made one on their's - Nelson Mandela. We realised how both of their principles were similar and decided to use elements from both our nations for this. It took us two and a half years and a lot of artists from across the world to eventually come out with an album named Winds of Samsaara. This album fetched us the Grammy Award.2. Royal Philharmonic Orchestra from London: They're supposed to one of the best on this planet and I collaborated with this 80 piece orchestra in 2016 to create a song to raise awareness on climate change. We recorded at the legendary Abbey Road Studios. We collaborated once again last year for a soon to be released album that will be revealed in August. 3. Shankar Mahadevan from India: He's one of the best musicians and also the nicest human beings and we've collaborated three times so far. My best collaboration with him is Ganga, which was created on the river. He took the song to a whole new level with his voice. 4. Peter Yarrow from the United States: He's the legendary American folk singer, who is part of the legendary trio Peter, Paul and Mary. He even marched with Martin Luther King for the civil rights movement. I had the opportunity to co-write a song with him titled Where Are My Rainbows, along with Lonnie Park. 5. Baaba Maal from Senegal: He's a legendary Senegalese singer and I have grown up listening to his music and he was also the voice of Wakanda. I had an opportunity to perform alongside him at an event by the United Nations. We even recorded a song together called Born From The Land.