Ellen asked: > First (and not very debatable)... Over the years, visas have been > difficult > for Scottish musicians to get to concertize in the U.S. With recent > restrictions here due to 9/11 etc., do any of you know if visas are again > a problem for musicians who wish to tour? And if so, is it affecting > the music?
Yes, and yes. It's now worse than ever. I was in the US last month, and the INS application (done by a US agent) took over 4 months. You can 'fast-track' an application on payment of around $1200- that's approx, I can't remember the exact amount. The VISA fees payable to the London Embassy have also risen substantially. This wasn't an application for a casual trip to just play- we had to apply for a P3 VISA, which is for musical entertainment which is in some way unique, ie not obtainable except by importing furreners. We had letters from all sorts of organisations here to back up our claim to be National Treasures of enormous cultural significance. The system seems designed to keep musicians out the country. So is it affecting the music? I think so- there are now more and more US-based 'celtic bands' and the need to import the real thing seems to have lessened. All the celtic music I heard in the US was Irish-influenced, apart from the pipe bands. If you want to be Scottish, it's enough to put on a kilt. In 2000 we played at Epcot as part of a millennium thing- all the folks there wearing kilts were Canadian :( Derek Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music & Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
