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Taken from Cape Cod Times (June 18, 2017)
Franti seeks to open minds with music
Michael Franti has spent the past three decades helping people heal through music.
by Ken CapobiancoContributing Writer
Michael Franti and Spearhead will perform Friday at the Cape Cod Melody Tent in Hyannis. COURTESY OF MICHAEL FRANTI AND SPEARHEAD |
It’s a rare gift, especially in today’s often blithely indifferent and deeply cynical pop world more obsessed with cashing in than giving back.
With his band, Spearhead, the singer/songwriter and political/environmental activist continues to spread a universal message of love, unity and compassion. In the process, the band has proven that nothing helps people transcend troubled times like a big beat combined with an even bigger heart.
Franti’s deeply humane songs, filled with undeniable melodies and irresistible rhythms, have galvanized audiences and put a punctuation point on wily funkmeister George Clinton’s sage advice: Free your mind and your behind will follow.
“These are incredibly challenging times today, and every day I read the news and it just leaves me baffled,” Franti said via phone recently. “My mission with the music and in life is not to change minds, but to open minds. We’ve got to listen to other viewpoints – and spend more time listening, period. All of us are in this together and we must live with greater understanding. With the songs I write, I try to express the full rainbow of human emotions and create with empathy and compassion. That’s always been the goal.”
Last year, Franti and Spearhead released their ninth record together, the ebullient, deeply spiritual “Soulrocker,” which refined the group’s deft blend of pop, reggae, soul, electronic dance, and world music while emphasizing Franti’s unique ability to infuse hooky songs with potent political ideas.
On the infectious horn-peppered pop jewel “Crazy For You,” he sings, “The world’s gon’ out of control again/like every second I pick up my phone again/I know this story about a person the government is messin’ with/And tell me what’s the story of a terrorist/and in the ocean still just killin’ fish/and corporations buying up the politics.” It’s vintage latter day Franti – slipping knowledge into his spirited, feel-good music.
The band recently released a beautiful video to accompany the new single, “Summertime Is in Our Hands,” one of the set’s more exuberant yet moving tracks. The song is a meditation on finding small epiphanies in life’s little moments and discovering great meaning in the mundane. It was written when Franti’s teenage son, Ade, was diagnosed with the rare kidney disease FSGS.
“Summertime is a state of mind. Something we hold in our hearts and we can access during challenging moments in our lives,” the 51-year-old San Francisco native says. “I recall going fishing with my dad, playing basketball into the night during the summer, and everyone has their own memories they can draw on when they experience some kind of physical injury, trauma or dark times.”
Franti adds that his son is managing while fighting the disease with no known cure. “I’m so proud of him. He just graduated. … He’s alive and a bright, optimistic young man. Life is so precious and we have to celebrate it as a gift.”
Over the years, Franti, the father of two sons, has been a high-profile environmental activist, fully understanding that the future of the planet belongs to the children of the world. He is openly dismayed by President Trump’s decision to pull the United States out of the Paris climate agreement.
He woke up on the morning after the announcement, he says, “and I wondered ‘What am I going to tell my kids and grandkids someday?’ They are going to ask what were you doing to ensure the sustainability of the planet when this was happening? I’m going to say I was there resisting.
“What is happening is crazy, but I haven’t given up. It’s a long battle and we’ve come forward so many steps. I live in San Francisco and we have a solar-paneled home and an electric car. Fifteen years ago, that was an impossibility. We have to keep focused and moving ahead despite what’s going on.”
Franti’s musical career has been shape-shifting ever since he first hit the scene in the late ’80s with his aggressive experimental spoken word/noise band, The Beatnigs. After that group’s four-year run, he formed the mighty Disposable Heroes of Hypocrisy with Rono Tse. The duo made roiling, highly charged hip-hop inspired by acts like The Last Poets and Public Enemy. The music was volatile and often brilliantly conceived –Franti’s flame-throwing lyrics explored everything from sociopolitical ills to gender identity.
His music developed with the founding of Spearhead in the early ’90s as the group drew from broader musical influences from around the world. With a foundation of lithe, danceable rhythms, the band quickly became favorites of festivals, finding a cross-section of fans from the funk and jam band universes. It’s now one of the most popular live acts, widely recognized for its expansive, vibrant and very inclusive performances.
“Over the course of my life playing music, I’ve learned so many things. One thing I know for sure is, you change,” the eloquent and engaging Franti says about his musical evolution. “I’ve always wanted people to be drawn to what I have to say, and make a point with the music.
“I learned I could still do that through joy. The early music was very angry, but I realized I didn’t want to be like that on stage every day. There were days I just wasn’t that angry,” he laughs. “And I had to go on stage and be angry. It was time for change.”
Over the years, Franti, along with Talib Kweli and a handful of other artists, has been one of the few consistently politically minded musicians. In the wake of last November’s election, though, segments of the pop world – especially R& B and hip-hop – are slowly catching up with him.
While too many rock and mainstream pop acts are afraid of alienating fans, acts like Kendrick Lamar, Run the Jewels, Joey Bada$$ and Solange have made pointed political statements in their songs.
It’s too early to tell if this is just a trend or the beginning of a movement, but Franti is hopeful. “We’ll have to see if it will last, but there are definitely a number voices out there, like Kendrick, who are putting out music that is very challenging. One of my favorite MC’s MF Doom is always doing it. He’ll put out an entire record without one hook.
“There are real opportunities for artists now to speak up and continue in the tradition of KRS-One, Chuck D and Gil Scott-Heron. We can and need to pass it on to the next generation. I’m always optimistic.”
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