Last year was exciting for musicians Joe Driscoll and Sekou Kouyate.
Following the release of their 2012 album Faya they had committed to an intense touring schedule in its support. They saw themselves and their audiences grow in 2014, along with fellow bandmates James Breen and John Railton, playing larger venues and headline festivals across Europe. As the year came to a close the band and their label, Cumbancha, were finalizing plans that had already been in the works since early spring — a North American tour and the recording of a new album.
Joe Driscoll and Sekou Kouyate (joeandsekou.com)
January 2015 was shaping up to be the kick-off of another very exciting and hectic year. Starting the last week of January, dates were set and venues booked. Rehearsal space and recording studio time rented, everything was in place for both a 12 week northeast leg of an American tour and to recording the sophomore album.
Then the rug was pulled out from underneath them.
Suddenly there was a delay in Kouyate’s visa (a citizen of Guinea- a West African nation that the US has only recently reestablished diplomatic relationships with) – it was delayed without word of why or when the issue would be resolved.
As of February 1, when Driscoll and I met to discuss the cancellation of the first week of tour dates, where the status of the rest of the tour was headed, and the plans for recording the new album, Kouyates’s visa was still hanging in limbo.
The official status reported to the label and the band was “administrative processing” – a title often considered a black hole of bureaucratic silence. The standard policy of the US Embassy is once a visa is listed as administrative processing, they are under no obligation to provide any more information on the progress of that visa for a minimum of 60 working days.
January 2015 was shaping up to be the kick-off of another very exciting and hectic year. Starting the last week of January, dates were set and venues booked. Rehearsal space and recording studio time rented, everything was in place for both a 12 week northeast leg of an American tour and to recording the sophomore album.
Then the rug was pulled out from underneath them.
Suddenly there was a delay in Kouyate’s visa (a citizen of Guinea- a West African nation that the US has only recently reestablished diplomatic relationships with) – it was delayed without word of why or when the issue would be resolved.
As of February 1, when Driscoll and I met to discuss the cancellation of the first week of tour dates, where the status of the rest of the tour was headed, and the plans for recording the new album, Kouyates’s visa was still hanging in limbo.
The official status reported to the label and the band was “administrative processing” – a title often considered a black hole of bureaucratic silence. The standard policy of the US Embassy is once a visa is listed as administrative processing, they are under no obligation to provide any more information on the progress of that visa for a minimum of 60 working days.
