Idan Raichel gets candid on camera

During a recent tour stop at UCLA’s Royce Hall, I spent an evening backstage with Idan Raichel, creator of The Idan Raichel Project, a multicultural music fusion of ethnic artists from around the world. “The Project,” as they call themselves,  includes 70 artists from the Sudan to South America (though only a select few travel on tour), and they collaborate musically in Israel. Before The Project performed to a wildly enthusiastic L.A. audience, Idan shared his thoughts on Israel, put national politics in their place, and revealed the things that inspire his music.

Note: The video was shot with top-notch camera equipment and a fancy lens, but with wide-angle images and a longer-than-youtube-usual running time, the image quality got significantly compromised during the transfer. I’m hoping to improve it soon.