Passports For Musical Instruments

[Anglogeezer]

The following link leads to a Mudcat thread -

http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=149830&messages=2

 

This reports on a bio-diversity conferance in Bangkok at where the U.S. delagate put forward the proposal that musical instruments "that legally contain endangered wildlife products like exotic hardwoods, ivory or tortoise shell." should have a passport to make international travel easier, reducing the need for import/export permits.

 

Not something that troubles me, though how you establish that the exotic content is legal may be difficult and as always in these matters the cost is never mentioned!!

 

Jake

 

[David Barnert]

I've never heard of passports for musical instruments, but apparently it is pretty well established that they cannot earn frequent flier miles, even if you have to buy a seat on the plane for them, at least not on Delta. The famous cellist, Lynn Harrell, has been there, done that, and written all about it on his blog.

[Geoff Wooff]

As a maker of Instruments that are made from Endangered Flora and Fauna materials at times I find the idea very interesting. There are problems , as you say, in identifying the legal from the illegal once a material has been transformed into an instrument. The difference between 'before and after' the Ban on use of a specific species.

 

In 2003 I was invited to play at a festival in the USA and was advised to get a Licence to take those Pipes in my Avatar picture, this mainly because of their age and rarity, it would be inconceivable to have them confiscated. So I had to get them 'officially' evaluated by the Dublin Museum experts and recieve a letter stipulating their antiquity which was then presented as evidence in an application for the, once off, Import/Export licence under the CITES agreement.

 

However, as the experts at the museum did not know what they were looking at they had to refer to an outside expert on the subject to tell them what the age and provenance of the instrument was. Guess who the expert was..... me!

 

So, yes it can be all too difficult and the idea of a permanent passport for each instrument would be good. If only

[Steve Mansfield]

When The Powderkegs were coming back from the Prague Folklore Days festival a few years ago, the customs officials at the airport made everyone unpack their musical instruments and give them a quick tune.

 

Whether they were checking for endangered materials, or bombs, or just getting a free gig at our expense, we never found out: but when a burly Czech customs official with a uniform and a big gun said 'Play', we played ...

[Geoff Wooff]

When The Powderkegs were coming back from the Prague Folklore Days festival a few years ago, the customs officials at the airport made everyone unpack their musical instruments and give them a quick tune.

 

Whether they were checking for endangered materials, or bombs, or just getting a free gig at our expense, we never found out: but when a burly Czech customs official with a uniform and a big gun said 'Play', we played ...

This reminds me of an old man I knew in Australia who had to wait 20 years to get his Czech Duda (bagpipe) smuggled out piece by piece as relatives were able to leave the country . The Culture Police ... imagine that

[RatFace]

This reports on a bio-diversity conferance in Bangkok at where the U.S. delagate put forward the proposal that musical instruments "that legally contain endangered wildlife products like exotic hardwoods, ivory or tortoise shell." should have a passport to make international travel easier, reducing the need for import/export permits.

 

Actually, it's not necessarily that simple. Someone I know had problems with customs confiscating her lute on the suspicion that the nut was made out of ivory (it wasn't), which was then sawn in half to check.

[Mike Franch]

When The Powderkegs were coming back from the Prague Folklore Days festival a few years ago, the customs officials at the airport made everyone unpack their musical instruments and give them a quick tune.

 

I understand the early in the 20th century US immigration authorities would make immigrants, especially from Italy, play instruments they were carrying. Apparently, they wanted to make sure that the person was not a nonmusician bringing in an instrument for resale--a bit of capital to get a start on their new life.