Peruvian cumbia orchestra Corazón Serrano faced a last-minute crisis at the start of their US tour when American authorities seized all of the group’s equipment upon arrival, according to the band’s founder and leader Edwin Guerrero.
Guerrero revealed the problem during a social media broadcast, saying that customs officials retained the group’s consoles, microphones, keyboards, computers and monitoring systems. He said a payment was made, described as a fine or similar charge, and the band was told to collect the equipment at the airport, but when they arrived the cargo section was no longer in charge of it.
The musician explained that the band had followed the same procedure used on previous international tours, declaring all instruments before leaving Peru. He said that because the instruments are Peruvian and invoiced accordingly, the group routinely declares them at customs when departing to ensure there is no suspicion of smuggling.
However, Guerrero said US authorities this time told them they were required to register the equipment, something he said had not happened on prior US tours. The unexpected requirement disrupted the group’s logistics ahead of their opening concert.
With no time to recover the original gear, Guerrero said the team worked against the clock to source replacement instruments and reinstall the necessary software and audio hardware. He said his crew had to rush to obtain instruments, load programs, install software on computers and purchase sound cards in the hours before the show.
Guerrero said that without his regular technical team present, the concert would not have gone ahead. The US tour follows the success of the band’s Peruvian concert series known as Acceso al Corazón 4.
