He had just finished his american tour and was on the way back from New York. Ballake Sissoko on 4 February, has set foot in his home in Paris to find that his musical instrument, the kora, was reduced into a thousand pieces. The musician from mali has accused the guards of borders of the Tsa, the Transportation Security Administration, the U.s. government agency for Transport safety in charge of controls at the airports: “The kora is my life. He gave me everything. The Tsa has destroyed my life,” he said.
The kora is an instrument from west Africa with 21 strings that produces a sound similar to that of a harp, impossible to replace: “I Would have dismantled it a Stradivarius?”. “This is a giant cultural bias”, he was echoed by the minister of Culture of mali.
In a press release, N’diaye Ramatoulaye Diallo, said he was dismayed at the damage to the instrument: “it Remains to be determine whether or not a deliberate act. However, this immense cultural bias throws us a challenge and we will push to do everything that is legally and diplomatically as possible.”