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from the home-of-the-brave,-land-of-the-ham-fisted dept.
Two Soylentils sent in stories about the US TSA (Transportation Security Administration) and their handling of Ballaké Sissoko's kora (musical instrument).
US customs dismantled 'impossible to replace' instrument
Prominent Malian Musician Alleges that TSA Destroyed His Instrument:
One of Mali's most prominent musicians, Ballaké Sissoko, has alleged that the Transportation Security Administration [TSA] destroyed his specially designed instrument during a trip from New York to Paris that began on Monday evening. On Thursday afternoon, the TSA said that its agents did not open the instrument case or create the damage.
[...]Sissoko checked his kora, which was packed in a hard flight case covered with "fragile" stickers, as oversized baggage. Koras are large instruments that can stand more than 4 feet from the tip of the long, rounded neck to the base of its big gourd body.
[...]But once he arrived at his apartment in Paris, Sissoko says, he opened the case to find his kora dismantled.
An official statement posted to Sissoko's Facebook page, written by ethnomusicologist and former BBC presenter Lucy Durán, notes: "The neck of the kora has been removed. The strings, bridge and entire, delicate and complex sound system of amplification has been taken apart.... These kinds of custom-made koras are simply impossible to replace."
[...]Sissoko says that inside the case, alongside the dismantled instrument was an official note from the TSA written in Spanish, that said that agents had opened the case for inspection, and that its contents "may have been searched for prohibited items."
At the bottom of the notification is this slogan: "Seguridad inteligente ahorra tiempo" — "Smart security saves time."
[...]"In Mali," the musician's statement says in part, "the jihadists threaten to destroy musical instruments, cut the tongues out of singers and to silence Mali's great musical heritage. And yet, ironically, it is the USA Customs [sic] that have in their own way managed to do this."
[...]According to the TSA website, musical instruments must undergo screening, whether they are carry-on or checked.
See also: BBC, Al Jazeera, the Guardian
Here's how that kora used to sound in Sissoko's hands Ballake Sissoko - Nalesonko - live, Toumani Diabate with Ballake Sissoko - Kadiatou (gorgeous), Famadenke
Ballaké Sissoko's Kora Dismantled by American TSA
https://afropop.org/articles/ballak%C3%A9-sissokos-kora-dismantled-by-american-tsa [Link giving 404 07-18:37ITC]
"The kora is a fragile, hand-crafted instrument, and Ballaké's kora is tailormade to his own specifications. It is an intrinsic part of his very special sound. Would US customs have dared to dismantle a Stradivarius? In its own way that is what has just happened to Ballaké. The neck of the kora has been removed. The strings, bridge and entire, delicate and complex sound system of amplification have been taken apart. The kora is in pieces. Even if all the components that have been dissembled were intact, it takes weeks before a kora of this calibre can return to its previous state of resonance. These kinds of custom-made koras are simply impossible to replace. They are certainly not available in shops." (Lucy Duran)
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 08 2020, @06:59AM (28 children)
It's standard advice to musicians, regardless of where they're travelling, not to travel with the irreplacable.
It doesn't have to be the TSA. It can be idiotic baggage handlers. It can be all sorts of things. It can be moronic roadies, or cops hoping for promotion. It can be simple thieves.
You travel with computers you can replace from any mall, using data that you can duplicate from online. You travel with your trash guitar, your third best mic, your whatever. You don't travel with anything about which you give any kind of shit - not by shipping separately, not by hand luggage, nothing.
Because this shit happens all the time. Check youtube for the video of the song about United breaking guitars. That really happened.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Breaks_Guitars [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 5, Touché) by c0lo on Saturday February 08 2020, @07:39AM (7 children)
Well, it seems you are saying the US public only deserves music played on Wallmart quality instruments.
Because airline profits it's more important than culture?
Or is it because the TSA plays such a great security theater everything else is superfluous?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0, Troll) by khallow on Saturday February 08 2020, @01:19PM (2 children)
Does it really seem that way? For it seems to me that a rational, thinking person would never reach that conclusion from the remarks made.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Sunday February 09 2020, @07:35AM (1 child)
Were you one who were waiting [soylentnews.org]?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday February 09 2020, @06:37PM
Because if he doesn't pay sufficient lip service to your obsession of the day, he must approve of it, right? How should these discussions "seem" to me?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 08 2020, @09:20PM (1 child)
I didn't say that the US public deserves anything. I didn't say that the US public deserves caviar on crystal dishes, nor a swift kick in the gonads. I said that musicians are advised not to put their expensive, possibly irreplacable tools in the hands of the typical monkeys and goons that run our transportation infrastructure, because monkeys will monkey and goons will goon.
Many insurance companies will even refuse to reimburse damage done by the agents of the state (check for force majeure clauses) and thus even insuring your expensive but replacable tools is unlikely to be a real solution.
Working musicians generally have a stipulation in their contracts that explains their requirements for a backline, sound system and so on. This is precisely so that they don't have to deal with this crap. They also have riders that stipulate that the venue has to provide (for example) a Yamaha grand piano, or a kiddie pool full of champagne, or whatever.
One touring musician I know travels with a credit card, a throwaway laptop, and a hotel booking. He checks into the hotel, downloads whatever he needs from his cloud accounts through a local Starbucks, and if he needs something extra he can pick it up from an electronics supply store in under two hours. Granted, he's an EDM act, and he can do that, but it's precisely because of this that he doesn't drag his custom machine from home to wherever.
Now please explain for the short bus riders how any of this translates to airline profits being important (I don't give a shit if they all go bust tomorrow), the TSA playing great security theatre (I don't give a shit if they get disbanded tomorrow), or any statement whatsoever concerning what the US public deserves, or even morality in the abstract.
We're all waiting.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Sunday February 09 2020, @07:32AM
How many of you are there and, btw, who are you that I keep waiting?
(actually, you don't seem to have a problem with both of them thriving)
If you don't get it how letting those monkey and goons control your life, I doubt that you'll get any explanation I can come about their impact on the American culture (or the growing lack of it).
Meh, indeed, who am I to cast judgements on your kink? Enjoy your EDM acts, that's all you're going to get after a while.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Mykl on Monday February 10 2020, @12:02AM (1 child)
Yes, the US only deserves Walmart quality instruments, UNTIL they demand that their government stop the abuses perpetrated by the TSA and replace them with something saner (such as the security systems in just about any civilized country in the world).
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday February 10 2020, @01:25AM
I'll be buying the $20 Walmart kora [wikipedia.org] on day 1!
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 5, Insightful) by janrinok on Saturday February 08 2020, @07:41AM (16 children)
When there is only one such instrument in existence - built to his personal specification and requirements - how does one travel without it?
Because it frequently happens doesn't mean that it is acceptable.
(Score: 1, Disagree) by loonycyborg on Saturday February 08 2020, @07:51AM (13 children)
He should have it always near his person when transporting it. If it's impossible in plane, travel by boat instead.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Saturday February 08 2020, @08:12AM
Not all trains will transport instruments .. and travel by boat is slow [ports.com]
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 4, Touché) by janrinok on Saturday February 08 2020, @08:15AM (7 children)
I asked about booking another seat for my Steinway piano - they were reluctant to allow it in the cabin....
How about fixing the problem that exists rather than suggesting stupid alternatives?
(Score: 2) by loonycyborg on Saturday February 08 2020, @09:07AM (6 children)
And how do you fix it? It's not only about TSA. There is million of other possibilities for a custom instrument to get fucked up during transit. Only way is to either constantly watch it yourself or hire someone else to do it.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Saturday February 08 2020, @12:01PM (1 child)
How about the airlines come with a special service and offer me baggage handlers able to honour a "Fragile" label?
On an extra cost, of course. Sounds preposterous? I'm old enough to remember times when it wasn't.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 4, Interesting) by legont on Saturday February 08 2020, @03:46PM
It used to be possible to ride a Harley to JFK, watch it loaded correctly into the belly of a regular scheduled flight to Europe, and supervise the unloading. All for a nonstandard baggage fee comparable to an economy ticket.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 08 2020, @12:51PM (1 child)
This is an inane attitude. It's like claiming a woman wearing a short skirt, caused the rape.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 08 2020, @05:26PM
Short skirts don't rape people, people rape people.
Drugs don't cause drug addiction, people cause drug addiction.
Guns don't shoot people, people shoot people.
Which one of these kids is not treated like the other kids?
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Saturday February 08 2020, @04:42PM
And how do you fix it?
No, it's, how do we fix it?... Because it is we who have to demand better service and some respect. And it is we who have to stop reelecting corrupt politicians that make these thing happen. If we don't do it, expect the decline to continue.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 08 2020, @04:58PM
The TSA is a problem for all sorts of other reasons, that's the first place to focus as air travel is often the only viable method of getting between two points. Yes, if you're only a few hundred miles away, the train may be an acceptable option, but for state to state travel, you might not have the time it takes to drive or take the train.
Given the unconstitutional abuses of power that the TSA regularly engages in, they all deserve to be in prison with the rest of the child molesting perverts.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by EEMac on Saturday February 08 2020, @02:03PM (3 children)
Amendment IV
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday February 08 2020, @04:58PM (2 children)
I agree - but:
Customs and border patrol are authorized to be asses anywhere within 100 miles of the border - and the TSA kinda inherited that authorization. You might be secure from local, state, and even federal police, but you're not secure from customs, border patrol, or TSA.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 09 2020, @02:24AM (1 child)
I am reasonably competent in the english language and I do not see a "within 100 miles of the border" exception in there. Now granted, they can set up barriers on the borders and make it a condition of passing through that you submit to a search, but that is very different from stopping and searching random people just because they happen to be near the border.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday February 09 2020, @06:07AM
I did not question your literacy. The constitution doesn't specifically exempt Customs from the obligations of government. But, laws written very early in our history did so, and no one challenged them hard enough. Customs and Border Patrol have a very special status today. And, I forgot to mention game wardens. They have a similar exemption, but worse, because they can actually enter your private domicile without a warrant.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 08 2020, @09:23AM (1 child)
Find a sympathetic billionaire with a private jet. You can get away with flying anything into the USA if you have enough wealth and a private jet.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 08 2020, @05:01PM
There's also jsx.com. It's essentially flight sharing. It's more or less like a bunch of unrelated people getting together to charter the same plane to the same location.
(Score: 0, Troll) by khallow on Saturday February 08 2020, @01:23PM (2 children)
Get insurance. Then if the airlines/TSA/thieves destroy the irreplaceable instrument, then you can get another irreplaceable instrument (guess they're not so irreplaceable) and make them pay.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 08 2020, @05:04PM (1 child)
You're a fucking moron Khallow. Most of those instruments are genuinely irreplaceable. The wood is unique as well as the specifics of how the luthier went about shaping it into an instrument. The specific shape and the density of an instrument means that it won't sound quite the same.
Now, whether or not the difference is detectable is a bit of an open question, but you're not going to be able to replace a Stradivarius as he's been dead for a very long time and the number of them will never increase.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday February 09 2020, @03:02AM
So what? Even if that were true, you can always get another irreplaceable instrument of the same sort with a unique sound.
I bet there's a few replacements out there already that haven't been caught yet.
My point about the insurance is that if you really care about the safety of anything handled by others, then insurance is the way to get these other parties to take your cares seriously. They aren't going to care about some old violin in a case. They are going to care about the old violin with a ten million dollar policy that they will pay out, if they screw things up.