Getting inside Idan Raichel

He’s hard to penetrate. He could be sitting three inches in front of you: you ask your journalistic questions—what impact do you hope your music has? how does it feel to represent Israel?—and he gives you his practiced routine answer, flipping his thick, black dreadlocks from one shoulder to another, and he leans in closer for effect, and you find yourself breathing deeper, but he’s done this before, a thousand times, and he knows he’ll let you learn about him without really letting you in…

More on my day backstage with Idan Raichel coming soon…