Ricky Kej: Paris has become quite unpredictable because the usual protests and riots

When the news of riots in Paris emerged, musician Ricky Kej instantly got worried about his scheduled concert in the city getting pushed once again. Though the Grammy-winning composer is glad that his doubts were proven wrong, he admits being concerned about usual protests in the area bringing a bad name to the city.

“At the moment, Paris is calm. It was affected just for about one or two days. Lately, protests in Paris have become quite common. In fact, I even read a joke that every time you want to travel to Paris for a holiday, there is unrest and you can’t go out of your room,” tells us Ricky, who performed at La Seine Musicale in Paris at the Namaste France event on July 7.

The 41-year-old reveals that the very same concert had got pushed due to another protest earlier this year. “The event was earlier scheduled to happen in April after the gala dinner commemorating 25 years of India-France friendship. But got cancelled due to protests opposing the changing of the age for retirement,” he continues, “I was excited to perform, and when I read about the news of another set of protests, I thought it would get cancelled again. It is a good thing that the embassy didn’t cancel it. The city is very peaceful right now.”

While Ricky didn’t have any doubts regarding his safety as he planned his visit to the city, he was more worried if the unrest would disrupt the concert date. “Because I really wanted to do this. I love performing in France. This concert will mark my first performance for the Indian diaspora here,” he adds.

That being said, Art of Devotion and The Longing composer feels the crisis situation is casting an unsettling image of Paris in the mind of tourists from across the world.

“The city has become quite unpredictable in recent times. People usually plan their vacation much in advance. But when all of a sudden they read about these riots and stuff, it definitely casts a shadow over the tourism industry. We already have enough worries like pandemic issues and airport hassles… France is a beautiful city with a lot of history and culture. But they really need to figure out how to deal with this. Protesting and activism is good, but as soon as you bring violence into it, there is no way to justify that,” he expresses concern.

Further stating that such unpredictable conditions also makes the lives of performing artistes more uncertain, Ricky mentions, “For instance, in the future, if I’m called by a promoter or event’s person for any concert in Paris, I’m always going to think that it might get cancelled because we do not know when there is going to be a riot. It is scary,” ends Ricky, who will be leaving Paris for Geneva for another concert.