Singer/songwriter and musician Michael Franti prepares to embark on his 2024 'Togetherness Tour'. CREDIT: WAYAN RODESH
Michael Franti is a multi-talented singer/songwriter known for his upbeat, feel-good songs of love, hope, and positivity like "Sound of Sunshine," "Say Hey (I Love You)" "I Got You" and many others. His high-energy live shows are geared toward bringing people of all walks of life together for a fun, uplifting, shared experience through music.
He's excited to kick off his "Togetherness Tour" in April and describes what to expect for someone seeing Michael Franti & Spearhead for the first time.
Michael Franti & Spearhead. Credit: Wayan Rodesh
"There are moments where the music is super loud and intense and rocking," Franti says, "and you're hearing lyrics that affirm your values in life of caring about music and people and trying to look beyond yourself and embrace those with other experiences. And then there will be moments where it's just me and the guitar and I'll go out into the audience."
Like the name of his tour and the lyrics to so many of his songs, Franti's reason for going out into the audience during his live shows goes back to his overriding goal of making people feel a sense of belonging. As a young biracial child growing up in an adopted family in San Francisco, he struggled with feelings of not fitting in - anywhere. Music helped make a difference.
"As a kid I used to get the cheapest seat or sneak into a concert to go see a band," he recalls. "And there would be a point in the show where the artist would point to whatever section I was in, like triple R or wherever, and yell out something. And I knew he was looking right at me! It felt so magical to feel that sense of inclusion like I'm not the only person in the world who feels the way I do about the things being sung here."
For more than three decades, Franti has written and shared songs of hope and optimism, such as those from his recent album Big Big Love. Songs like "Hands Up to the Sky" resonate with listeners because they come from the heart and Franti's own experience.
"I lost my father to COVID in 2021 and I couldn't be there, so there was a lot of darkness and pain. We had a Zoom funeral, and I was unable to connect with my family like I wanted to."
It was an extremely difficult time for Franti, but he eventually worked through it.
"And what I later learned, and one of the greatest takeaways I discovered from this, is the key to being joyful in life is 'ease of heart.' And what that means is whatever is in your heart, let it pass with ease. If you're sad, you cry, if you're pissed off, go somewhere safe and throw a pillow or scream in the forest, do something to let it out."
He was finally able to 'let go of the pain' when he heard live music again after COVID.
"It had been two years since I'd seen an actual concert and at a certain point, I put my hands up to the sky, closed my eyes, and started to sing along. Pretty soon I started to feel my hands shake and I was in tears and moving in ways I hadn't moved in a long time. I was laughing, crying, dancing, and shouting, and suddenly I felt better. I felt healed and moved."
Franti has found music can heal in a way nothing else can and incorporates it in every area of his life. When he's not touring, he lives with his family in Indonesia. He and his wife, Sara, live onsite at a yoga hotel they built in Bali. It started out with five rooms, a yoga studio, and a small restaurant. It has now evolved into 33 rooms, three restaurants, two bars, a night club, and three yoga studios. There's also an organic farm on the property that produces the rice and vegetables served to those who stay at Soulshine Bali. It's not your typical yoga retreat.
Michael Franti and his wife, Sara, at Soulshine Bali, their yoga retreat hotel in Indonesia. Courtesy of Michael Franti
"We're the opposite of what you might think of a yoga retreat center with someone sitting on a rock in a white leotard," he says with a laugh. "We're not the monastic type of retreat center. We're a place where people can go deep and have tearful moments on their yoga mat, then go and let their heart open in a new way on the dance floor. We have a live music venue and DJs that play every sunset."
Every other year, Franti takes his yoga hotel concept out onto the open seas for something called his Soulshine at Sea cruise. The last one in the fall of 2023 sold out, and he's already looking ahead to doing it again in 2025.
"It's all kind of wellness activities in the morning with yoga and meditation, and things you can learn to improve your life like songwriting and storytelling workshops, then in the afternoon and evenings, it becomes a party with 20 bands, then rolls into DJs until 3 in the morning," Franti says. He laughs and adds, "Then people get up the next day and go back to meditation."
Michael Franti during his Soushine at Sea cruise - November 2023. CREDIT: @WILLBYINGTON
Franti has spent a lifetime healing through music and helping others do the same.
"I was adopted at birth and one of the things that's affected my entire life is a feeling I don't belong, that I was abandoned and somehow didn't deserve to be loved. My (biological) mother was white and my father was black, and I was given up for adoption because my mother felt her father was a racist and would never accept a brown baby."
Although Franti was adopted by a family who loved him, there was still something missing.
"I was brought up by this second-generation Finnish family that had three kids, then adopted myself and another African American son. I remember feeling I'm the weird kid, I look different even in my own family. But you know what I later found out? Everybody feels that way. Even the people who seem to be the most well-adjusted on the outside, they're the ones usually covering up even more because they feel so different on the inside."
So, Franti uses music to bring people together.
"It's been my goal through my music to make people feel they can be themselves and it's okay to be that way, warts and all."
He encourages everyone to strive to see the good in themselves and others, especially at a time when the world feels so divided.
"I believe optimism is the highest form of courage. And it takes bravery to show up in that way."
Today, Franti sees his own life as rich and joyful. And sharing his music is the biggest part of it.
"I'm more excited to play music today than I've ever been. And I know that's the same for the band members. We've been doing it ow for over 30 years and to wake up every day and go, 'I cannot wait to do this, it's the best feeling!"
