Raj Ramayya Qualified As “The Pride Of Saskatoon” By CTV News
While the iTunes Daily Charts showed #2 upon Spicy Beats’ release, CTV News in Vancouver upwards the album and qualified Raj Ramayya as “the pride of Saskatoon”, where his album was first ascended by Mike Ciona who had introduced Raj on Saskatoon’s CTV Morning News upon release day:
“His voice and music have been featured in the classic anime Cowboy Bebop, The Walking Dead and Resident Evil video games and now, he’s got a new release out and as we look at the iTunes Daily Charts in Canada, “All Categories”, it reads “Shawn Mendes”: #1 and Raj: #2.”
“His sound fuses rock, electronica, and Indian elements.” – FYI Music News
“Pop Rock combined with Indian beats, a unique twist on classic melodies” – CTV morning News
“A classic funk groove with the addition of Indian percussion sets the tone. Raj Ramayya carries out the lyrics of “Long Gone Guru” in a style that combines melodic rap with a hint of soul and oriental vibe. A great crossover of musical cultures, modern and ambitious. A song to listen to during an urban trip!” – Rock Fueguino
“Pop Rock à la Bollywood,” says Michel T Dallaire for the Top 10 of iHeartradio’s NIKY Radio International
CTV NEWS INTERVIEW
Jason Pires: “Why do you think your music is so appealing? I know you’re massive in Japan especially.”
Raj: “I don’t know, I think it’s just a unique sound, it’s a blend of Indian instrumentation, of funk, grooves and Pop Rock melodies so I think it’s just a unique sound and, yeah, I think that’s why people picked up on it, and also people know me from a lot of games and anime, so I think there are a lot of fans there as well.”
Keri Adams: “Did you always want to be a musician and did you see your work being used on those platforms?”
Raj: “I was fortunate to be in Japan at the right time and I happened to connect with a lot of games and anime companies when it was just sort of taking off and they kept calling me and I had other big hits in animes and games, recently with Tower of God.”
Jason Pires: “We were dancing earlier to your first single “Long Gone Guru”, great track, well-received, what is that song about?”
Raj: “It’s about sort of the Indian diaspora coming of age in a new world and really understanding who they are and how they are part of modern society and it’s also a song about just understanding your value basically and believing in yourself.”
His first single “Long Gone Guru” has strongly hit the airwaves and is now clocking above the 100k views bar on YouTube, while “Himalayan Sky” already started spinning on Stingray’s audio channel: Stingray Alt.
Raj’s project ‘The Real Folk Blues’ also charted at #1 on the Japan Amazon Rock Charts while hitting #6 on the Worldwide Digital Charts and amassed around $52,000 in COVID charities for the CDC Foundation and Doctors Without Borders.
