WNYC; Alicia Zuckerman; Cuban Pianos
- Collection
- WNYC
- Series
- Alicia Zuckerman
- Episode
- Cuban Pianos
- Contributing Organization
- WNYC (New York, New York)
- AAPB ID
- cpb-aacip/80-88cfzdsg
If you have more information about this item than what is given here, or if you have concerns about this record, we want to know! Contact us, indicating the AAPB ID (cpb-aacip/80-88cfzdsg).
- Description
- Description
- NEW YORK, NY (2003-12-12) A boat full of pianos bound for Cuba ships out from Canada today. The journey began one week ago in Brooklyn. WNYC's Alicia Zuckerman was there. AZ: It is a chilly morning at Moishe's warehouse in Williamsburg. A piano and a few assistants are loading fourteen pianos from a loading dock onto a truck. Ben: It's called Send a Piana to Havana. You know, like send a salami to your boy in the army. AZ: For the last seven years, piano tuner Ben Treuhaft has been organizing shipments of donated pianos to Cuba. He wears a green bandana, tied pirate-style around his head, and black boots unzipped, so he can easily kick them off, which he does often. He hates shoes. The idea for the project came out of a visit to Cuba in 1995 he was there tuning pianos for a dollar each. Ben: I was caught by the Cuban government. They said, what are you doing, tuning all the pianos in sight? They said, actually what we could use is more pianos. AZ: Music is a deeply ingrained part of Cuban culture. The island is full of music schools, but working pianos are in short supply. The humid, salty air rusts the strings, and problems with termites are so bad, even a new piano can be ruined in just a few years. In the documentary film, Tuning with the Enemy, about Treuhaft's project, one scene shows a talented Cuban teenager playing a rotted out piano. Because of the U.S. government's forty-year-old trade embargo, getting new pianos, and replacement parts, has been difficult. The shipments are legal in spite of the embargo because they're considered humanitarian aid. (He had to sign a statement promising the pianos would not be used for torture or human rights abuse. ) Ben: I can't go with the pianos, that's a felony. But I can send pianos until I'm blue in the face. AZ: He's not going this time, but Treuhaft has been flouting the U.S. government's ban on travel to Cuba for years. He says the Treasury Department has been after him for seven years, when it first learned about the pianos he tuned in Cuba. Ben: That's what it actually says on the complaint that I was caught turning pianos in Cuba for one dollar each (laughs). AZ: His piano shop was fined more than a million dollars, and he was threatened with ten years in jail. He fought the charges, and like most of these cases, the government agreed to settle for thirty-five hundred dollars. Ben: The said they'd settle for $3,500, and I agreed, thinking they were gonna give me a $3,500, but when they found that out, they stopped talking to me altogether, and I haven't heard from them for three years now. AZ: Treuhaft has requested a hearing. So far, no one has ever actually had a hearing, but the Bush administration announced last month that the wheels are in motion to get them underway. However, the Senate recently voted to prohibit government money from being spent to enforce the ban. AZ: Either way, Treuhaft's connection to Cuba continues to grow. Ben: See this band saw? See how it has an ocular for blind people? This is part of the donation from the blind tuner Newton Hunt. AZ: The New Jersey piano tuner Newton Hunt died several months ago, and today's shipment includes his entire workshop. He willed it to a school for instrument repair that Treuhaft founded in Cuba two years ago. AZ: This will be the last shipment for a while. Treuhaft wants to concentrate on the school now. There are six graduates so far. Soon, the school will move to a new building, and Treuhaft says he'll be there for the ribbon-cutting. Ben: (grunt) This has been onerous this year. It's really been difficult getting all this stuff together. I'm glad to see the last of this shipment. AZ: But as much work as it is asking people to donate money and their old pianos, lifting them onto trucks, and shipping them to Cuba through Canada you get the sense that this is not something he could give up. So far, he's responsible for getting almost 250 pianos to Cuban music schools and individual students. A year and a half ago, he brought some of them to the States to record a CD, called Melodies from the Forbidden Island. A ship carrying the pianos leaves from Halifax today and is schedule to arrive in Havana on Wednesday. For WNYC, I'm Alicia Zuckerman
- Genres
- News
- Topics
- News
- Rights
- WNYC
- Media type
- Sound
- Credits
-
-
Reporter: Zuckerman, Alicia
- AAPB Contributor Holdings
-
WNYC-FM
Identifier: 37406.1 (WNYC Media Archive MDB)
Format: Data CD
Generation: Master
Duration: 00:04:14
If you have a copy of this asset and would like us to add it to our catalog, please contact us.
- Citations
- Chicago: “WNYC; Alicia Zuckerman; Cuban Pianos,” WNYC, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed May 2, 2025, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-80-88cfzdsg.
- MLA: “WNYC; Alicia Zuckerman; Cuban Pianos.” WNYC, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. May 2, 2025. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-80-88cfzdsg>.
- APA: WNYC; Alicia Zuckerman; Cuban Pianos. Boston, MA: WNYC, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-80-88cfzdsg