Tabla maestro Bickram Ghosh is thrilled that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been nominated for the 2024 Grammy Awards and says he looks at the achievement as a sign that the country is important for the rest of the world is on the “Grammy radar.”
At the 66th Grammy Awards, PM Modi has been nominated for Abundance in Millets in the Best Global Music Performance category. Abundance in Millets is song created by US-based musicians Falguni and Gaurav Shah and co-written by PM Modi. The song also features Modi’s speeches and was created to propagate UN declaring 2023 the ‘International year of millets’ on Indian government’s recommendation.
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Speaking to Zoom, Bickram Ghosh said the nomination means that India is a “global power today” and that the country is “important for the rest of the world. And these are signs that India is important.”
The maestro said putting the PM on the nomination list signals major news and one cannot now “look away” from the country. He added, “Recording Academy is looking towards India. This is a good time to be working from India, creating a sound which is put out there for the Grammys – for something that is relevant internationally.”
Abundance in Millets will compete with Pashto, an instrumental conversation between banjo virtuoso Bela Fleck, cellist Edgar Meyer, ace percussionist Ustad Zakir Hussain and featuring Mumbai-based flautist Rakesh Chaurasia from the album As We Speak is also nominated.
India’s third nomination is in the same category, where Shadow Forces – an Indo-Pak collaboration between Brooklyn-based Pakistani musician Arooj Aftab, Indian-origin ace jazz pianist Vijay Iyer and one of the music world’s most famed collaborators, Shahzad Ismaily, who was born in the US to Pakistani immigrant parents. Shadow Forces is a part of the album Love in Exile (Verve Records), which is also nominated in the category of Best Alternative Jazz Album.
Indian-origin Priya Darshini, who is featured in the album On Becoming, by jazz-fusion act House of Waters, is nominated in the category for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album.
According to AP, SZA is the lead contender with nine nominations at the Grammys, followed by Victoria Monét and Phoebe Bridgers with seven. Bridgers’ band boygenius has six, as does Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, Miley Cyrus, Billie Eilish, Brandy Clark, Batiste and producer Jack Antonoff.
“There are a few history-making opportunities as well: A Black woman hasn’t won album of the year since 1999, when ‘The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill’ was awarded the top prize. This year, SZA or Janelle Monae could change that. If Taylor Swift takes home album of the year, she break the record of the artist with the most wins, ever, with four. Lana Del Rey and Miley Cyrus may win their first Grammys,” an Associated Press report read.
“On the movie category, director Greta Gerwig’s ‘Barbie’ is likely to have a tussle at the Grammys much like it may at the Oscars, with 12 nominations for the music of the film — 11 for the soundtrack album or its songs and one additional one for the Mark Ronson/Andrew Wyatt instrumental score.
“Billie Eilish’s ‘What Was I Made For?’ landed five nominations all by itself, appearing in two top marquee categories, record of the year and song of the year, as well as pop solo performance, music video and song written for visual media,” a report in IANS stated.
According to the report, Dua Lipa’s ‘Dance the Night’ also got a top nomination, for song of the year. The category of songs written for visual media barely left room for anything else: four of five songs there are from ‘Barbie’, including the aforementioned Eilish and Lipa tracks, plus ‘Barbie World’ and ‘I’m Just Ken’.
For Best New Artists, Gracie Abrams, Fred Again, Ice Spice, Jelly Roll, Coco Jones, Noah Kahan, Victoria Monét, and The War and Treaty have emerged as the leads. On the rock and metal world, Metallica, Foo Fighters, Greta Van Fleet, Queens of the Stone Age, and Paramore are in the race for the Rock Album of the Year.
In terms of performances, it seems like a packed line-up with SZA, Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo, Dua Lipa, Joni Mitchell, Billy Joel and Travis Scott among others.
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