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Skirball Cultural Center
Orchesta Kef, a band from Argentina, was denied a visa in November 2009 to perform in Los Angeles.
The next time Orquesta Kef gets invited to play in the United States, it may actually be able to get into the country.
The band of young musicians from Buenos Aires, who blend Klezmer music – traditional instrumental music of Eastern European Jews – with Argentine tango and folk, were denied entry in November 2009 by U.S. immigration officials. A U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services director recommended against issuing the group a so-called P-3 a visa to perform at a “Fiesta Hanukkah” concert in Los Angeles, saying there was no proof the group’s act was “culturally unique.”
After public blowback, an appeals board re-examined the case and reversed the decision – but by then Hanukkah had passed and Orquesta Kef never got to play in L.A.
This week, Citizenship and Immigration Services announced it was officially clarifying its definition of “culturally unique” to specify that it “is not limited to traditional art forms, but may include artistic expression that is deemed to be a hybrid or fusion of more than one culture or region.”
The new definition will apply to reviews of future applications for P-3 visas from foreign performing artists and entertainers.
“It was something that needed to have a more fine-tuned definition,” said immigration services spokeswoman Sharon Rummery. “It’s going to make it easier for us to adjudicate cases like these in the future."
People who want to perform in the U.S. typically need one of the following: a P-1 visa, issued to internationally recognized athletes, artists and entertainers; a P-2, for artists or entertainers in a reciprocal exchange program; a P-3 visa, issued to entertainers participating in a culturally unique program; or an O-1, known as the “genius” visa, for individuals with extraordinary ability in the arts, athletics, education or sciences (NBA star Dirk Nowitski of Germany, for example, has an O-1).
In its original P-3 denial, an immigration official concluded of Orquesta Kef:
“The evidence repeatedly suggests that the group performs a hybrid or fusion style of music, incorporating musical styles from other cultures and regions. A hybrid or fusion style of music cannot be considered culturally unique to one particular country, nation, society, class, ethnicity, religion, tribe, or other group of persons.”
The band had been booked by the Skirball Cultural Center, a Jewish cultural institution in Los Angeles, to perform at its annual Hanukkah holiday concert. In the visa application, Skirball included a short biography of the band, describing the ensemble’s “unique musical style” as “based on the millenary force of tradition and the powerful emotion of the Jewish culture, mixed in with Latin American sounds.”
Skirball also provided letters from music experts who testified to the group’s unique sound.
“How more culturally specific can you get than Jewish music of Latin America?" Jordan Peimer, Skirball’s vice president and director of programs, thought at the time.
The visa denial was the topic of several scathing columns, including a blog post on Foreign Policy magazine’s website sarcastically titled “Keeping America safe from Latin Klezmer bands.”
Watch the most-viewed videos on msnbc.com
Peimer, who said the initial denial was “a huge missed opportunity,” called the latest decision “a vindication for the band … and also a vindication for the American people.”
“It says our government works,” he told msnbc.com on Wednesday.
Alejandro Filippa, a New York immigration attorney who specializes in artist visa applications, said the immigration agency’s clarification of the definition of “culturally unique” was a positive step in a world of increasingly diverse and interdependent cultures.
“The door is now more open for an entire new wave of artists to perform in the United States,” Filippa said in an email to msnbc.com. “Unfortunately, the fact this application was initially denied is indicative of the cultural ignorance of some USCIS officers in adjudicating cases that are more reflective of the modern, diverse international community we now live in.”
As for when Orquesta Kef might finally play in the U.S., Peimer says he hopes to book the band for a future Hanukkah concert.
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What the hell was the U.S. Immigration Dept. afraid of? What kind of threat did the band portray?
Culturally unique does not mean good. Consider the culturally unique redneck band with the swinette player. (The swinette is the three longest hairs on a pig's butt.)
It's not the threat of this band that was the problem. If they didn't make rules, then anyone with plane fare and a guitar would have to be let in. What are they going to do if 2000 musicians from Libya or Pakistan want to come here to play in a music festival depicting middle Eastern music? They have to have some excuse for not issuing 2000 visas, don't they? If they issue 2000 visas, how are they going to round up 2000 immigrants after the festival? What if five of them are terrorists? This is their way of getting around that, they tell them their music is not unique enough, and they deny all of them visas. If you can't figure out what's going on here, then you ought to think about 20 loose people in each of 50 cities in the U.S. with nobody to keep track of them. This particular band from Argentina just got caught in red tape. The rules aren't made for them, they are made to keep out people we really don't want.
@orthehighway - wouldn't 2000 guitar players from libya or pakistan be a good change for a while?
No, PJ. maybe only only 1995 of them. If five of them are terrorists, I'd prefer that they only allowed 1995 of them in and told five that their music wasn't unique enough. If they make a mistake now and then, that's okay with me. Maybe the music would be great if all 2000 of them were here for music. The point isn't to keep out artists or musicians. The point, I think, is to keep out people we don't want. I think perhaps they made a mistake. The news broadcasts every single mistake the government makes as if it is the end of the world. I have a hard time believing that they don't make a lot of correct decisions and that a lot of rules they make aren't made for really good reasons. There's a lot of people in the world that hate us, the government has done a lot of really bad thing overseas. I'm upset about that; however, I don't think that every single person that wants to come over our borders should be allowed to given the fact that our government has made a lot of enemies. Some people have to be excluded. In order to protect a lot of innocent civilians, I'd prefer they excluded a few people wrongly than allowed everyone in that applied for a visa. That's just my opinion. Do you want to worry about a bomb everywhere you go? I don't.
The truth is this agency is just plain mean spirited. Sorta like having put the KKK in charge of Civil Rights...
It appears that the threat the band portrayed was that it would be good music and become popular in the US.
LOL Figures. Rather than do the RIGHT THING and shut down the illegal alien free for all at our borders the US Immigration Department goes and screws with some people actually trying to come here the right way.
What the F*CK is WRONG with this country???!!!
We worry about the ones who are open and honest, because it is easy, and looks so good in the press to make us all believe that our government is so concerned with the security of its citizenry....It is like putting a shotgun into a chicken coop and then bragging because you killed dinner instead of actually having to go out, exert some effort and comb the fields for the pheasants and partridge.
They Want To Welcome More Terrorist Into Our Country To Have More Reasons To Take Our Rights Away. They Are Training Contractor Terrorists To Bring Back To America To Continue To Break Us Down. DHS Needs To Be Justified Somehow Correct? All Thanks To A Man In A Cave, I Think Not! And More And More Everyday You See The True Purpose.
Play Romney Against Obama In The Controlled Mainstream Media And The People Will Choose! The Elite Cant Loose. Between The Two Puppets You Have Been Given A Choice. They Are Both Suitable For The Elite To Continue Their Destruction Of America. Every American That Believes In Freedom Should Be Voting For The Man That Is Not Show In The Media. He Is Against Over Sized Government That Is On A Spending Spree. Those Who Choose Based On The Options Given By The Media Have Been Taken For A Fool.
Christopher....please contact your doctor.
Stonedog, I think you've got that right.
BINGO, Illegal Aliens are the bread and butter of Democrats. The Republicans balked at the thought of no financial gain from the legal entrance of this band to the United States.
Let the spinning of my comment begin.
WAAAOOOO!! I just cannot stop wondering how incompetent is the Department Of Home Land Security; Argentinians do not come to this country illegally, like the Mexicans and others from Central, South America the Caribbean and AFRICA. In fact, go to DC and you will find thousands of Somalians (pirates) living and receiving public assistance and free college education. How about those terrorist from the Middle East, laundering money through small businesses such as gas stations and convenient stores. In Maryland, you can find illegal aliens from Central America and Mexico selling drugs and running whore houses (Broadway). We have a useless, incompetent immigration department that only target those immigrants who are trying to do the right thing and be productive.
Ranger (USA Retired).
Actually the first denial was correct if you look at the policy it was not distinict to a region or group of people..BUT
they should have lied and said they played JAZZ lesson to be learned never describe yourself or what you do beyond what a sixth grader would understand easier for many to just say NO then think with their limitations..
Hey Arthur, a little clue for you. Argentina happens to be in South America. I know, maps are a little difficult for you to comprehend..
Good for you Arthur - the Dept. of Homeland Security is a joke, it has been for years! Our politicians have done nothing but line their pockets, party hardy, take from the taxpayers & give to other countries to build up these other countries, steal, commit adultery, cheat, lie, etc... They are so damn corrupted, I wonder if any ONE of them is a decent law-abiding citizen. I bet there is not one politician that has worked in for our government that hasn't done something crooked. I bet there isn't one that is good through and through, but boy do they expect all of the citizens of the U.S.A. to be squeaky clean!
And...Sandungo, by the way, Arthur mentioned South America you stupid moron! Why don't you write about the article and the band that's trying to come here legally like EVERYONE should?
Immigration is starting to get wise to the fact that some groups of people get temporary visas to get into this country and then once here, they disappear and never leave. People have been doing it for years. Millions of illegals are not illegal border-crossers but instead have overstayed legal visas, many for years and years. They are trying, in their own incompetent way, to keep people from illegally entering the U.S. with plane fare and a guitar. All they have to do to prevent this type of thing is make the sponsor responsible for them. Perhaps a new insurance company should step up to the plate and let sponsors purchase a policy like a bond. If the sponsored individuals failed to report back on the assigned day for their Visa expiration, the sponsor has to pay a hefty penalty. I am all for going back to the sponsorship program. People are so much again immigrants as against immigrants that go directly onto to public assistance. Religious charities bring immigrants into this country that immediately burden their communities. Illegal immigrants burden the education and healthcare systems, federal housing and food programs, etc.
So rounding them up is not possiable? The INS doesn't seem to care who is in the country. It is only poor hard working folks that care who it is taking their jobs.
What is wrong with keeping people out of the country?
What's wrong with allowing a band to perform at your religious holiday and go back home?
That can be allowed as long as they get permission to enter the country. Could also hire American also.
So the INS is actively ignoring twenty million illegal immigrants that are taking American's jobs while successfully protecting us from cultural invasion. I'm so fed up with feds I can't sleep sometimes. Is there a masters degree program in idiocy that one must take to be a federal bureaucrat?
It is not just to keep out those who might possibly stay illegally, but to protect the livelihood of American performers that such visa restrictions are in place. It can be cheaper to hire low-cost performers from overseas than to pay American artists decent wages to perform. Perhaps in this particular case the immigration officials went overboard, but if you were in an American klezmer band, you might not think so.
Thanks for clarifying that. What you say makes sense and I agree. But as a construction worker I wish some of our efforts went into protecting us building trades folks from displacement from the workplace by foreigners who are being granted access to our livelyhoods by the INS arm of the Obama Administration. I support American musicians and ask that you support us professional American craftsmen.
Culturally Unique? Does this mean that the millions of Illegals in this country are culturally unique, that is why they are not sent back to Mexico? Or did Obama think it would be as good for our country as all the Illegals he wants to vote for him this year?
Latin American klezmer-----the mental image of people tangoing at a Hanukkah party----wow.......I can hardly imagine......oy vey Maria....
Does the US need more "unique" artists? Like the Art students who worked for the Israeli Intelligence services and spied across US on high level officials?
OK, that was a joke ... but why wouldn't even a "normal" band be allowed to tour the US?
Jesus, this administration wants to add more to our current problems. Take a stand and lets solve the immigration issues, legal and illegal. Maybe Hugo Chavez can come here and play the Saxophone. Wouldn't that be great?. These people cannot make the tough decisions. Just simple ones because the silent majority say nothing and the politicians know it. We are at the bottom. Can't get any lower. We are there!!! Keep voting for the idiots. Mccain, Pelosi, Reid , Obama, Boehner just to name a few. keep the idiocy going!!
I am sure the more lizardly they are, the more likely they will get a visa
Wow. Obama's administration has let in tens of thousands of Somalis but won't let in an Argentine band?
Guess it's okay if you play with rocket launchers but not with violins.