< Ozomatli Back from Mideast Tour for State Dept.

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Heard on All Things Considered

August 2, 2007 - MELISSA BLOCK, host:

The music of Ozomatli, the hybrid multicultural L.A. band that's known for its political activism and lately, for its strong antiwar message. So we were surprised to learn that Ozomatli was sent on a two-week concert tour of the Middle East sponsored by the U.S. State Department. Ozomatli played in Jordan, Egypt and Tunisia. The band has just arrived back in Los Angeles.

And the group's trumpeter, saxophonist and clarinetist Ulises Bella joins us from L.A. Mr. Bella, how did this tour come about?

Mr. ULISES BELLA (Member, Ozomatli): See, if we do another one of these gigs, I think we have to give NPR a little percentage of what we get paid.

BLOCK: I see.

Mr. BELLA: What happened was it's - this woman named Sharon, who was, at the time, in D.C., heard on the interview program that we had done with NPR. And she later got stationed to, I believe, India, then right after that, Nepal, where she was the one who set the wheels in motion with bringing us out at that time to India and Nepal. We got to do New Delhi, Chandigarh, Bangalore, and also one day in Kathmandu. After the success of those shows, and I think they organize this Mideast trip.

BLOCK: I should say, I mean, NPR's happy to toot its own horn, but we actually didn't know about the NPR connection until after we got interested in this tour, in the first place.

Mr. BELLA: You can't pay for that publicity.

BLOCK: Absolutely. Well, with the State Department sponsoring this tour, what did you have to work out with them in advance about terms, what you could or couldn't say, the kind of message you might be bringing?

Mr. BELLA: Well, I think we both had come to an agreement, mutual understanding and respect. It was obviously, you know, an interesting experience to even negotiate to get to that point - being the kind of band we are, the things that we supported in the past, and the things that we're supporting at this moment, you know?

BLOCK: Like what?

Mr. BELLA: Well, obviously, the freshest one being the antiwar movement, you know? We were one of the first bands to participate in any antiwar concert here in the States post 9/11.

BLOCK: And in these shows, there wouldn't have been any overt message against the war, or was there?

Mr. BELLA: It depended on the show. And I think it depended on our feeling. And, yeah, we would, you know, talk about how we felt about peace and how we wanted peace as a band.

BLOCK: Have you heard from fans who are really disappointed in the band, and maybe say, gosh, they've sold out?

Mr. BELLA: No. Actually, I haven't heard anything from the fans, as far as like - I think we've shown our colors always for what we are and what we stand for. I mean, how else would I be able to have done it - playing in Palestinian camp in Jordan, playing on orphanage in, like, Egypt, playing a free show in Alexandria?

BLOCK: Was there one moment from this tour - this Ozomatli tour - that you look back on now and, or really savoring as sort of the reason that you did it in the first place?

Mr. BELLA: We got to see some wonders of the world whether it was Petra, or the Pyramids.

One of the really, really - also besides the, you know, seeing these things, that was a high point for me, personally, was we were walking around the Pyramids and me and this other (unintelligible) - he just came up to me first with just a basic kind of like, I love Americans. I love Americans, but I don't agree with this and I don't agree with that. And at that moment, it felt like a closure to a certain kind of feeling I've always had in my life. That feeling of - I wish I could just talk to somebody from out there. I wish I could just connect with somebody out there in, you know, in the middle of, like these pyramids and these things and things.

And we were just talking about all the things that he felt was going on with the foreign policy, how I felt was going on. And it's like we agreed on a lot of things, and then we didn't agree on certain things. And it was like - it was all right. It was beautiful. And we walked away shaking hands, like, I'll see you later, man.

BLOCK: Well, Ulises Bella, welcome home.

Mr. BELLA: Thank you very much.

BLOCK: Ulises Bella of the band Ozomatli, which just wrapped up a two-week tour of Egypt, Jordan and Tunisia, sponsored by the State Department.

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