SHAURYA SINGH THAPA
Airlines, musicians, and
damaged instruments
For many musicians, the instruments
they play are like parts of their body. For
others, their music instruments might
be their lover, pet, or child. So much so,
that during flights, some artists book
a separate seat for their instrument!
However, there are some who can't do that.
In cases like these, there are high chances
that the instrument breaks in the course
of air travel. Now, what can be more
heartbreaking for an instrumentalist?
In recent years, music instrument
mishaps in flights came in the forefront
with the case of Myrna Herzog being the
most talked about in the international
level. Herzog, a classical musician from
Israel, took a flight from Rio De Janiero
in 2018, and while she did want to book
an extra seat for her precious viola de
gamba (dated 17th century) but there
were no spare seats in the airplane.
Alitalia airlines were still ready to treat
the viola with special care like other
fragile items on board. But then what
happened can be summed up best in
Herzog’s rant on her Facebook, ‘This is
how Alitalia# delivered to me my original
17th century Lewis viola da gamba, after
ensuring to me that it would be TAKEN
BY HAND into the plane and out of it! It
was savagely vandalized; it and it seems
that a car ran over it. So, far no luck in
contacting any human being at Alitalia,
and the only answer got so far is that
the company takes no responsibility!’.
After her post began to be shared by
several enraged musicians who faced
similar troubles, the airlines said that it
would engage in further investigations.
These eventually turned out to be futile
as Alitalia released a statement that
Herzog did sign a limited release form
before boarding her flight. Such forms are
basically used for transporting bulky or
fragile objects, and imply that these are
being carried at the owner’s risk. This
makes it harder to obtain a concession
or a reimbursement from the airlines.
But as a later Facebook post by her
showed, the airlines did reimburse her
and looked into its policy regarding music
instruments. Herzog was finally happy
but not every artist shares the same fate.
24
The
Score Magazine
highonscore.com
It’s easy to justify all damage through
limited release forms. The viola wouldn’t
have broken if the Israeli did get a
separate seat for the instrument but
the question arises, can all musician
afford this every time? Hence, naturally,
musicians do feel that airlines should
use more stringent methods to protect
the goods that they carry. And often, the
musicians are also asked by airlines to
pay extra for their instruments. Take the
case of UK-based viol group Fretwork
who had to pay 240 dollars extra for their
instruments by American Airlines. And
what did they get in return? A broken viol.
In India, awareness around this has
mainly been built after a petition drafted
by Shubendra Rao. In 2019, the sitarist
similarly found his sitar to have cracked
as his Air India flight landed in New
York. He did manage to perform, but
now Rao performed with rage surging
inside of him. Also, this wasn’t the first
time his heart broke with a broken
sitar. Early on, a flight to Sydney was a
similar experience with a broken sitar.
Soon, he created a petition called
“Change ‘Limited Release’ rule of Airline
industry towards musical instruments”,
which has been signed by nearly 8,000
classical musicians so far (Grammy-
winning mohan veena player Vishwa
Mohan Bhatt being one of them). How
far would this petition go in a creating
an actual change in the Indian music
world, that seems uncertain for now. But
definitely, Rao’s petition has brought
several artists in solidarity, helping
them realise they are not alone and
their instruments deserve to be treated
with more dignity. Here’s hoping that
Indian airlines become more cautious in
handling the lifelines of these artists.
In the end, an instrumentalist’s anxiety of
traveling by air can be perfectly summed
up by Shubendra Rao himself. ‘How
can any artist survive if airlines keep
breaking their instruments whenever
they travel? These days, no one asks me
how I am after a journey. They always
ask me how my instrument is!’.