Dalai Lama wins first Grammy at 90 — a moment to remember

In one of the best highlights from the Grammy night, the 90-year-old Dalai Lama picked up his very first Grammy.

The spiritual leader won Best Audio Book, Narration & Storytelling Recording for Meditations: The Reflections of His Holiness The Dalai Lama. The album features contributions from Canadian-American singer Rufus Wainwright, as well as American stars Maggie Rogers and Andra Day, who helped bring the Dalai Lama’s words to life.

“It was a privilege to participate in this project. It is an honour to accept this recognition on behalf of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, whose wisdom is at the heart of this work,” Wainwright said while accepting the golden gramophone, delivering the kind of gratitude that made the audience smile from ear to ear.

The win comes against a star-studded lineup of nominees, including US Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, comedian Trevor Noah, actor Kathy Garver, and French musician Fab Morvan, making it a truly remarkable night for the first-time winner.

Meanwhile, Grammy nominees from India, including sitar virtuoso Anoushka Shankar, pianist Charu Suri, and Indo-jazz collective Shakti, didn’t take home the prize this year. Shankar, who has now been nominated twelve times, shared a heartfelt note from her India tour about the challenges behind the glamorous red-carpet world. She reminded fans that, while winning is joyful, the journey and the music itself always matter most.

She wrote on Facebook:

“Sometimes the process of spending literally thousands of dollars on the privilege of flying, attending, marketing and getting sucked into the machine, hugely anxious about outfits and red carpets, starting to hope to win and then not winning (again and again!) can take a toll. There is always a bigger mainstream artist dropping into our global categories who has MORE money to spend on marketing; there is always an artist who chooses to spend months networking, attending nominee events and ensuring their music and name lands in front of voters. I don’t say this from bitterness, but just to acknowledge what the behind-the-scenes reality can be. If tonight, I happen to win for the first time, of course, it will be a joyful experience, but I truly, truly believe it doesn’t matter in a deeper context."