<nettime> FYI Conductor Pierre Boulez 'detained' as possible terrorist

[Willard Uncapher <willard@well.com>]

Speaking of weirdness, here's one for the war on terrorism which I just 
read. Considering the reason why they nabbed Pierre Boulez, it looks like a 
lot of folks might be 'suspect.'  What have *you* been doing for the last 
40 years?  Alas, Boulez once said that all the opera houses should be blown 
up. Considering he was also named conductor of the year in England this 
year, he may get off. One suspects, considering this cate, that having US 
Executive Branch's Military Courts trying people based on 'secret evidence' 
might prove less than democratic, although I didn't say that, you 
understand. Just takes a majority to 'get rid of one's mistakes with a 
death penalty (no appeal). Good thing his name was not something like Mona 
Hatoum, Ghada Amer, Jamelie Hassan, Houria Niati, Shirin Neshat, Zaha 
Hadid, Walid Ra'ad, Seta Manoukian, Shirazeh Houshiary, Shahzia Sikander, 
and so on.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid_1692000/1692628.stm

BBC Tuesday, 4 December, 2001, 23:47 GMT
Conductor held over 'terrorism'

By the BBC's James Coomarasamy

One of the world's most famous conductors was briefly detained by Swiss 
police on suspicion of being linked to terrorist activities.

Frenchman Pierre Boulez had his passport confiscated in the town of Basle 
where he had been conducting at a music festival last month.

Europe has seen a series of anti-terrorist dawn raids since 11 September, 
but this must be the strangest.

Security threat

Pierre Boulez was sleeping in his five star Swiss hotel when police dragged 
him from bed and informed him he was on their national list of terrorist 
suspects.

Organisers have demanded an apology from the authorities for Mr Boulez's 
detention

The 75-year-old, who once conducted the BBC symphony orchestra, had his 
passport confiscated for three hours before he was free to go.

Strangely, it was not a case of mistaken identity.

In the revolutionary 1960s, it seems that Boulez said that opera houses 
should be blown up, comments which the Swiss felt made him a potential 
security threat.

The embarrassed organisers of the music festival where he had been 
conducting have now demanded an apology from the authorities.

[And if you don't have this sort of background, better watch out if you 
ever said something 'inflammatory' even in the context of a work of art. 
After all the evidence against you doesn't have to made public, but you 
understand I didn't say that]

08 May 01 | Music
Boulez crowned conductor of the year 
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/entertainment/music/newsid_1319000/1319360.stm>

Royal Philharmonic Society recognises Pierre Boulez

French avant garde veteran Pierre Boulez was named conductor of the year at 
the Royal Philharmonic Society awards.

He received the prize for his concerts with the London Symphony Orchestra 
(LSO) and work with young conductors and musicians.

A series of individuals and ensembles in contemporary classical music were 
rewarded for innovation and excellence at the annual awards, which took 
place at the Dorchester Hotel.

Sir Peter Hall gave the keynote speech at the event, at which Dame Janet 
Baker gave away the awards.


Willard Uncapher, Ph.D. / Network Emergence / 2369 Rodin Place, Davis, CA 95616
mailto:willard@well.com / http://www.well.com/user/willard 

#  distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission
#  <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism,
#  collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets
#  more info: majordomo@bbs.thing.net and "info nettime-l" in the msg body
#  archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@bbs.thing.net