The American authorities demand they should have work visas though they play at the festival for promotional purposes.
At least seven musicians cannot attend the annual festival South by Southwest (SXSW) in Austin, Texas. The reason is confusion over their visas and the measures taken by the new US president’s administration to cut migration.
Musicians usually don’t receive any pay for their performances at SXSW and use the festival for showcasing. Bands and artists cover all their expenses and don’t get paid for their shows. Usually musicians obtain B-1 toruist visas, but this year immigration services require them to have P-1 visas as members of an entertainment group. The move complies with Donald Trump’s rhetoric, who says foreigners are taking away jobs from Americans.
The measure already affected Italian post-punk trio Soviet Soviet, Egyptian-Canadian band Massive Scar Era and London-based drummer Yussef Kamaal. All members of post-hardcore band Massive Scar Era were denied entry into the US though its vocalist and guitarist Cherine Amr is a permanent resident of Canada with Egyptian roots and another band member is a Canadian citizen. The band notes they performed at SXSW in 2015 and 2016 and entered the country on B-1 visas.
What happened to us is politcally wrong on SO many levels! https://t.co/c6UJ6f5xQJ
— Massive Scar Era (@MassiveScarEra) March 14, 2017
Cherine recounts her conversation with an immigration officer: “He said that he knows that I’ve done everything legally, and that I’m not lying, but he’s still not going to let me in. He said that people are using the festival to protest, but I told him we are not going there to protest. We have no intentions of doing anything illegal or engaging in any political activity. We’re just going to promote ourselves, meet labels and bookers and network.”
The band’s leader writes in a Facebook post that she moved from Egypt, where metal music is not welcomed by society and the band was called “satanic”, to Canada to have more artistic freedom. The musician says the incident may endanger the band’s future, as agents or record labels will hardly want to work with the musicians who can be denied entry into the US.
The festival organisers warn on the official website that travel into the United States even from such countries as Canada and the UK on a B-1 visa is possible, but not guaranteed. The organisers call on musicians to obtain P-1 visas even if their shows at the festival are not paid.
SXSW (South by Southwest) is an annual festival founded in 1987. It features various events, including concerts, film screenings, art exhibitions and conferences. Its music section, SXSW Music is the world’s biggest music festival of that sort. This year’s event takes place on March 10-19.
Photo: Massive Scar Era
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