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For Iranian-Americans, scoring tickets to a performance by Persian pop diva Googoosh is like snagging floor seats to a Madonna concert. After all, this is the singer who was silenced for two decades by Islamic fundamentalists after the 1979 revolution--only to find her fans still cheering when she was allowed to leave Iran two years ago. So it was a huge letdown to those who'd shelled out $175 a ticket to learn days before her Sept. 28 concert in Los Angeles that Googoosh wouldn't be coming, because the United States hadn't granted her a visa in time. "I had already picked out what I was going to wear. It was such a disappointment," says David Tahmasbi, 39. In a heartfelt call-in to L.A.'s Farsi-language radio station, the singer apologized to fans and pledged, "I love you and I know I am going to sing for you soon."
The big question is when. New restrictions signed by President George W. Bush in May have been making it impossible for many foreign artists to get into the country in time for their scheduled appearances. You might expect delays for performers from Iraq and Libya, but why Cuba, Russia and Northern Ireland? From the Afro-Cuban All Stars, a popular Buena Vista Social Club spinoff that was just forced to cancel a five-week U.S. tour, to Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami, who missed the premiere of his new film "Ten" at the New York Film Festival a week ago, scores of performers have found just how narrow the United States' open doors have become post-9-11. Hardest hit have been those from seven nations designated in the new U.S. Enhanced Border Security and Visa Reform Act as "state sponsors of terrorism": Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya, North Korea, Sudan and Cuba. Anyone from those countries, artist or not, must now submit to lengthy background checks by the FBI. In addition, the U.S. government now requires a 20-day wait on applications from citizens of 26 countries (the State Department declines to identify them, but they are believed to be mostly Islamic nations in Asia and North Africa). Add to this brew backups at the Immigration and Naturalization Service, and you have a recipe for creative constipation.
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It once took weeks to get a U.S. visa; it can now take six months--and no one seems to have warned artists about the delay. The government recognizes that the new law isn't perfect and may in fact be causing unintended inconveniences. "We are working diligently to accomplish visa processing as expeditiously as possible," says Kelly Shannon, spokeswoman for the State Department's Bureau of Consular Affairs. "But security is our No. 1 priority." Foreign artists, and their U.S. promoters, say they're sympathetic to the security demands, but exceptions to the new rules need to be made. Why, for instance, are artists who've repeatedly visited the United States--even after September 11--now suspect? Googoosh had no trouble getting a visa for a visit late last year and hadn't anticipated difficulty now. Likewise, Kiarostami, the Iranian director, had visited the United States several times before, but discovered when he walked into the U.S. Embassy in Paris on Sept. 12 that it would take up to two months to process his application. With the premiere little more than two weeks away, New York Film Festival director Richard Pena offered to pull strings with some senators. Kiarostami was indignant. "He said, 'Why should my case receive any more special treatment than a grandmother who wants to see her children?' " Pena says.
Frustration in the arts community is reaching the boiling point. Scott Southard, whose International Music Network books foreign performers in the United States, couldn't help two of his biggest acts, the Afro-Cuban All Stars and Grammy-award-winning jazz pianist "Chucho" Valdes, when they were forced to cancel appearances; Valdes was one of 22 Cuban artists who couldn't attend the Latin Grammys in L.A. last month because of the holdups. "The short-term impact is that this is costing me tens of thousands of dollars," Southard says. "But the true cost is the long-term negative impact on the cultural arts marketplace." With the Whirling Dervishes of Damascus and two Bolshoi Ballet dancers encountering tie-ups, the American Arts Alliance, a coalition of nonprofit arts organizations, started working with Sen. Orrin Hatch on legislation to speed the process. Meanwhile, former Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart vows to lobby "every congressman and senator I know" to loosen the new restrictions. "I understand the Homeland Security bit, but they are targeting the wrong people," says Hart. "I don't know any terrorist-musicians." And the government means to keep it that way.
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