Grammy Award-winning musician Ricky Kej made the most of the India visit by French President Emmanuel Macron and First Lady Brigitte Macron. The musician accompanied his “friends” on their plane from France.
After Mumbai, he accompanied them to Delhi, where he visited the majestic Humayun’s Tomb with Brigitte Macron as the President attended the AI Summit on Thursday.
On the Presidential plane
He tells HT City, “I was invited for this three-day delegation, and as I was in France, I joined him on his Presidential plane. I have known the President since 2022 when he had hosted an event in honor of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Paris. I got the opportunity to sit down with President Macron and Prime Minister Modi during that dinner. And since then, we have kept in touch as I’ve performed in France multiple times and also collaborated with artistes.”
Kej says that on the plane, he came up to every single person and met them individually. “Both of them are very generous and very kind human beings. I also had the opportunity to have dinner with him in the plane’s conference room. It was good to spend time with them.”
Musical collaboration!
On the musical connection with the President, Kej says, “He is very good because he himself is a musician, actually. He has studied music, so he’s got a huge fascination for art and culture. He places a huge importance on art and culture and also on music. So it’s very interesting to speak to him. He understands all forms of music.”
Kej composed a piece that he shared with the president. “During this trip, I made a song in my hotel room studio – a laptop and a mobile set-up that I always carry with me – and sent it to him. He really liked it, which I will be releasing soon. It’s a universal music piece.”
The musician has a collaboration in mind. “I’m hoping that someday I’ll be able to do a collaboration with him. Maybe after he retires…”
Delhi trip
In the Capital, he accompanied them at an event at the French Institute before heading to Humayun’s Tomb with the first lady and other delegates.
“We were in Delhi where he was surrounded by almost 150 to 200 people. He did not leave the venue till he actually spoke to every single person who wanted to speak to him, and not like a ‘hi-bye’ or take a picture, you know, like a proper conversation with each person. So that is very rare to see nowadays. People are always in such a hurry, but he’s very interested in listening to everybody and learning from everybody, which is quite an amazing trait in a world leader,” he signed off as he headed to fly back to France.
