Too fucking stupid for words. Wanton destruction, and for no useful purpose at all.
Not a lengthy story, but absolutely outrageous. I think this deserves some attention:
Boujemaa Razgui, a flute virtuoso who lives in New York and works with many US ensembles, was returning to base over the holiday when Customs officials at Kennedy Airport asked to see his instruments. Bourjemaa carries a variety of flutes of varying ethnicity, each made by himself over years for specific types of ancient and modern performance.
. . .
At JFK, the officials removed and smashed each and every one of his instruments. No reason was given.
An artist's livelihood. A lifetime of skill and craft wantonly destroyed. Perhaps because he's Arab? (He's Moroccan, having moved to New York via Montreal.) It's not like they couldn't have checked that he was a "real" musician!
This is supposed to be what passes for "national security"? Do you feel safer? I sure don't.
A few videos of his music below the fold.
His work is diverse (as were his flutes & other instruments) with a wide array of credits, including on an album of traditional Turkish Christmas music, and another for Cirque du Soleil, a movie soundtrack. Searching allmusic.com, I find his credits also include a 2007 Beyoncé & Shakira duet, "Beautiful Liar":
Trailer for Cirque du Soleil's "Dralion" movie, for which Razgui played:
This one shows more of his global, pan-Arab work with the Sharq Ensemble:
8:39 AM PT: ArtsJournal has added an update: The grounds for destroying the instruments was apparently that they were "agricultural products", made of bamboo. By that logic, it would seem to me, clothing made of cotton, wool, silk, leather &c should also be taken and destroyed by Customs. Nuts!!