Fally Ipupa’s Concert in Paris: Interesting Facts You Need To Know
On February 28th, 2020, a major train station in Paris was evacuated after a fire was intentionally started nearby by protesters. The demonstrators burned parked scooters, motorcycles and bins. They also tried to block firefighters from doing their work.
By 11:00 pm, local time, 71 people had been arrested in connection with the protests. The demonstrators were trying to stop a concert by Fally Ipupa, the famous Congolese singer. Why? Read on to find out more.
Who is Fally Ipupa?
Born in 1977 in Kinshasa, Fally Ipupa is one of the most famous and most popular musicians from the Democratic Republic of Congo. He started his career in the 1990s when he joined the band Quartier Latin International founded by renowned musician Koffi Olomide. In 2006, Fally Ipupa started a solo career with the launch of his first album “Droit Chemin”.
Famous around the world
In order to reach a more diverse audience around the world, Fally Ipupa has collaborated with artists of different musical genres and different origins. This includes artists Nèg’ Marrons and Booba from France, Olivia (Longott) and R Kelly from the US, Salif Keita from Mali, Youssou N’dour from Senegal, the late DJ Arafat from Côte d’Ivoire, and 2Baba from Nigeria.
Why was Fally Ipupa’s concert a target of protests?
The protesters of Fally Ipupa’s concert in Paris call themselves “combattants” (fighters). The combattants are political groups of people of Congolese origin who mostly live outside of the D.R Congo.
After the Congolese presidential election of 2011, they opposed the victory of then-president Joseph Kabila and claimed that he stole the elections. They denounced the results by organizing protests in countries such as Belgium, Canada, England, France, the Netherlands, South Africa, and the United States.
Over time, they started targeting anyone, including Congolese musicians, they considered a supporter of the Congolese government; sometimes without evidence for those claims. They increasingly used violence and threats of violence to stop Congolese singers from performing abroad, causing some to wonder if the combattants were activists or criminals.
Sold out concert
Prior to the concert, Fally Ipupa shared on Instagram that the concert was sold out. Despite the troubles caused by the combattants, the concert took place as scheduled at the packed 20,300 capacity AccorHotels Arena (also known as Bercy Arena).
Throughout the evening, Fally Ipupa’s fans shared videos of the performances on social media. The video below shows the crowd’s enthusiastic response to one of the opening acts, Congolese musician Robinio Mundibu.
Many videos, like the one below, showed the concert-goers dance and sing along with Fally Ipupa.
