US customs destroys African musician’s bespoke kora
A TOP Malian kora player said his handmade instrument was destroyed by US custom officials as he flew back from a concert, sparking outrage over the treatment of African musicians performing abroad.
After a two-week tour of the United States, Ballake Sissoko was flying back to Paris when he found his handmade instrument in pieces. Inside the case, a note in Spanish from US customs read: “Intelligent security saves time.”
A photo posted on Facebook of his kora, a 21-string harp played by the Mandinka people of West Africa, shows the instrument lain on the floor with its neck separated from the body and strings wrapped around it.
“Would US customs have dared to dismantle a Stradivarius?” he asked in his post. “This is a reflection of the kind of cultural ignorance and racism that is taking over in so many parts of the world and that endangers the best of musicians from Africa and elsewhere.”
West African kora players are respected musicians and storytellers, with names such as Ballake Sissoko and Toumani Diabate from Mali, Sona Jobarteh from Gambia and Djeli Moussa Diawara from Guinea attracting big crowds across the world. Sissoko’s instrument had been tailor-made to his needs, allowing him to quickly change tune for concerts, and is “impossible to replace”, he said.
“Even if all the components that have been disassembled were intact, it takes weeks before a kora of this calibre can return to its previous state of resonance,” Sissoko added.
Success has brought danger for musicians in Mali since separatist rebels and jihadists took control of the north in 2012. During the takeover, which lasted more than six months, the militants banned music, confiscated instruments and forced artists to leave.
“In Mali, 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 US customs that have in their own way managed to do this,” Sissoko said.
The US Transportation Security Administration did not respond to a request for comment.