Turkey seizes a conductor’s baton
mainAlexander Ali Rahbari was going through security at Antalya airport yesterday when Turkish border police confiscated his baton on the grounds that it was a dangerous weapon.
Rahbari, 69, has been using the same baton for 30 years and has checked it in his hand luggage through hundreds of airports. He is a regular guest conductor of the Antalya State Symphony Orchestra. Now he has nothing to wave at them.
It’s sounds like a Monty Phyton sketch!
The only good conductor is a bus conductor. Why do Turks need music of Indidels. Our Great Leader, Erdogan, says chants of Koran from minarets is our music. Ottomans did not conquer Europe with Bach or Mozart- decadent art.
LOL
Are you kidding? Batons can be incredibly dangerous. They kill composers every single day.
This made my day:)
Seriously I have heard that Toscanini stabbed his baton in the hand of a violinist and Solti also pierced his own head with his baton.
That was precious.
They can be sharpened and made into a pointed stick. Can also be cut in half which is twice as dangerous
Had the same problem a year ago when passing through Istanbul.
They checked my batons and I really had to show them my scores and convince them I was a musician. The only airport in which it happened to me until now.
They’re weird.
Back in 2002, I had a similar experience after a tour with Symphony New Brunswick. I was not allowed to board the plane because of carrying a ‘sharp object’. Even though the other passengers recognized me and told who I was, the unbending security officer kept showing her security booklet saying “no sharp objects”. I gave up and had to check in my carry-on as luggage.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/conductor-not-allowed-to-board-flight-with-baton/article25295127/k
No more phallic symbols. No more patriarchical domination from the podium.
Let conductors conduct with vulva shaped soft and pliable objects that open and receive music instead of rigidly jabbing at music.
Hear hear!
Would you really want Charles Dutoit or James Levine sitting next to you on an overnight flight holding their batons?
Ali Rahbari is an Iranian conductor
Is a red baton a Baton Rouge?
Is Gergiev allowed to bring a toothpick on board? That’s a sharp object too.
Only if it’s menthol-flavored.
Rahbari is really a great conductor much much greaters than so many geniuses on the podium
I have had a similar experience in Constanta Airport, Romania, when I was called by the officers in charge to explain what that strange thing was. My batons were in my luggage, I explained them what those objects were and we started to laugh together. Anyway it is better not to have batons in hand luggage to avoid problems.