Ricky Kej makes Kannadigas proud at United Nations

Grammy-winning Indian musician Ricky Kej has received the prestigious Excellence and Leadership award as a global humanitarian artist, from the United Nations General Assembly recently.

"It was an absolute honor, and the greatest milestone of my life to perform at the United Nations General Assembly," Kej said immediately after his performance and acceptance of the prestigious award.

Kej performed at the United Nations General Assembly Hall, as part of the opening of the first ever annual NOVUS Summit, at the special event held during the United Nations high-level political forum on sustainable development.

"Every single great leader across the globe has graced these hallowed halls, and all major historic decisions and treaties have been initiated here.

"I am truly humbled that my music and activism found a place here, and it was a truly emotional moment for me to hear my music echoing within these walls," he said.

Joining him at the venue were vocalist, performance  artist, composer and humanitarian activist, Sussan Deyhim,  composer and multi-instrumentalist, Premik Russel Tubbs and  keyboardist, Lonnie Park.

Kej ended his performance by saying, "To end I want to  state the obvious ... Climate change is real ...Climate change is human induced. Climate change is affecting us all and our actions affect countries on the other side of the world."

The summit served as a global platform to inspire  innovators and humanitarians from around the world to come  together to create plans and strategies that will have a positive impact on the world, and promote the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The event was witnessed by delegates, global leaders, conservationists, activists and humanitarians from various parts of the world and it was streamed live across the world on the web.

• Rickey Kej
• kannadigas
• UN
• Music