Grammy Awards 2022: Falguni Shah & Ricky Kej win awards; no tribute to Lata
The 64th Grammy Awards 2022 ceremony which was held in Las Vegas, Nevada went off smoothly with the host Trevor Noah predictably taking a dig at the Will Smith slapgate controversy at the Oscars. “We’re going to be keeping people’s names out of our mouths,” said Grammys host Trevor Noah at the start of the glittering show evoking a huge round of applause.
Indian fans were thrilled when Indian-American singer Falguni Shah won a Grammy Award for A Colorful World in the Best Children’s Album category, and Bengaluru-based musician Ricky Kej, won his second Grammy for Best New Age Album for Divine Tides on which he collaborated with The Police drummer Stewart Copeland. As he received the award along with rock legend Stewart Copeland, Ricky Kej greeted the audiences with a Namaste.
Won the Grammy Award today for our album Divine Tides 🙂 Filled with gratitude and love this living-legend standing with me – @copelandmusic . My 2nd Grammy and Stewart’s 6th. Thank you to everyone who ever collaborated, hired, or listened to my music. I exist because of you. pic.twitter.com/Pe4rkOp0ba
— Ricky Kej (@rickykej) April 4, 2022
Meanwhile, sharing photos from the Grammys 2022 on social media, Falguni Shah wrote, “I have no words to describe today’s magic. What an honor to perform for the opening number of the GRAMMY Premier Ceremony, and then take home a statue on behalf of all the incredible people who worked on A Colorful World. We are humbled and thank the Recording Academy for this tremendous recognition. THANK YOU!”
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Falguni Shah has even performed and collaborated with music maestro AR Rahman, who was also at the Grammys, and she is the only Indian-origin woman to be nominated in the Best Children’s Music Album category at the Grammys twice. Falguni Shah was earlier nominated for a Grammy in the same category for her 2018 album Falu’s Bazaar. alu has training in the Jaipur musical tradition and the Banaras style of Thumri.
But fans were upset that the Grammy too, like the Oscars, failed to homage to legendary Indian playback singer Lata Mangeshkar in the In Memoriam section during the ceremony. The 2022 Grammys’ In Memoriam section paid tribute to songs by the late Broadway composer Stephen Sondheim, performed by Cynthia Erivo, Leslie Odom Jr., Ben Platt and Rachel Zegler. Taylor Hawkins and Tom Parker.
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Lata, along with late singer-composer Bappi Lahiri, however, did get a mention on Grammys’ website. Her fans vented their anger on social media sites: One wrote on Twitter, “lata mangeshkar wasn’t in the tribute? disappointed but not surprised. #GRAMMYs.”
One other wrote, “Such a shame @RecordingAcad failed to recognize Indian legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar who passed away last year. #GRAMMYs.”
One tweeted, “So both the Oscars and the Grammys failed to honor the late great Lata Mangeshkar in their respective memoriam segments? That’s a shame. #GrammyAwards #Oscars.”
The Big Awards of the Night
Meanwhile, it was Bruno Mars-led Silk Sonic, which won two of the big awards of the night – Record of the year and song of the year for Leave the Door Open. While Jon Batiste took home five trophies, including Album of the Year for ‘We Are’. Pop sensation Olivia Rodrigo won Best New Artist and Best Pop Solo Performance. While closer home, Pakistani singer Arooj Aftab won the best global music performance for Mohabbat.
.@Arooj_Aftab‘s “Mohabbat” wins Best Global Music Performance at the 2022 #GRAMMYs.
Aftab is the first Pakistani woman to win a GRAMMY and is also nominated for Best New Artist. 👏 https://t.co/kpqljYmSdy
— Recording Academy / GRAMMYs (@RecordingAcad) April 3, 2022
Pakistani actor took to Twitter to write, “So so proud! Shine on you crazy star @arooj_aftab.” Arooj was also nominated in the Best New Artist category. The award was won by singer Olivia Rodrigo.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made an unexpected appearance during the ceremony through a pre-recorded video message. “The war. What’s more opposite than music,” he began before adding, “The silence of ruined cities and killed people. Our children drew swooping rockets, not shooting stars. Over 400 children have been injured and 153 children died. And we will never see them drawing. The war doesn’t let us choose who survives and who stays in eternal silence. Our musicians wear body armor instead of tuxedos. They sing to the wounded. In hospitals.”
He urged those listening to talk about the war. “Tell the truth about war. On your social networks. On TV. Support us in any way you can. Any. But not silence,” he said.
He drew attention to the war in his evocative message to the world. He introduced John Legend’s performance.
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Lil Nas X performed to Call Me By Your Name and I Told You Long Ago at the Grammy. He was introduced by Trevor Noah as someone who’d ‘upset your homophobic uncle’.
Meanwhile, Indian music composer AR Rahman was at the ceremony actively sharing pictures from the ceremony on his social media handle.
Grammys😍 pic.twitter.com/wM0q42kOFG
— A.R.Rahman (@arrahman) April 3, 2022
The List of Winners
Record of the Year:: Leave The Door Open, Silk Sonic
Album of the Year: We Are, Jon Batiste
Song of the Year: Leave The Door Open by Silk Sonic
Best New Artist: Olivia Rodrigo
Best Rock Performance: Making a Fire, Foo Fighters
Best Metal Performance: The Alien, Dream Theater
Best Rock Song: Waiting on a War
Best Rock Album: Medicine at Midnight, Foo Fighters
Best Pop Solo Performance: Olivia Rodrigo – Drivers License
Best Pop Duo/Group Performance: Kiss Me More, Doja Cat and SZA
Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album: Love for Sale, Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga
Best Pop Vocal Album: Sour by Olivia Rodrigo
Best R&B Performance: Leave the Door Open by Silk Sonic, Pick Up Your Feelings by Jazmine Sullivan
Best Traditional R&B Performance: Fight for You, H.E.R.
Best R&B Song: Leave the Door Open
Best Progressive R&B Album: Table for Two, Lucky Daye
Best R&B Album: Heaux Tales, Jazmine Sullivan
Best Rap Performance: Family Ties, Baby Keem featuring Kendrick Lamar
Best Melodic Rap Performance: Hurricane, Kanye West featuring the Weeknd and Lil Baby
Best Rap Song: Jail
Best Rap Album: Call Me If You Get Lost, Tyler, the Creator
Best Improvised Jazz Solo: Humpty Dumpty (Set 2), Chick Corea
Best Jazz Vocal Album: Songwrights Apothecary Lab, Esperanza Spalding
Best Jazz Instrumental Album: Skyline by Ron Carter, Jack DeJohnette and Gonzalo Rubalcaba
Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album: For Jimmy, Wes and Oliver by Christian McBride Big Band
Best Latin Jazz Album: Mirror Mirror by Eliane Elias with Chick Corea and Chucho Valdes
Best Alternative Music Album: Daddy’s Home, St. Vincent
Best Music Video: Freedom, Jon Batiste
Best Music Film: Summer of Soul
