PREVIEW
SPEARHEAD with MICHAEL FRANTI
Calgary Folk Music Festival
July 27 and 28
Prince’s Island Park
A perusal of Michael Franti's message board (www.michaelfranti.com) will highlight the impact Franti has had and continues to have on the lives of his fans. It's no great surprise that Franti is awarded such high merit – artists of such extreme talent and social awareness are increasingly rare in today's music biz.
What you may know about Franti is that he began his career with spoken word performances, was a co-founder of The Beatnigs and Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy, and for the last 10 years has been leading the charge toward a socially enlightened groove with his band Spearhead.
What you may not know is that Franti spent two years living in our Great White North – Edmonton, to be exact.
"I remember it was cold," he says, chuckling. "But it was one of the first times I had experienced America from an outsider’s point of view. It gave me an insight that I wasn't aware of while living in the States. It was an important time for me."
Franti, the man and the musician, unashamedly laces music and politics into a potent mix that makes him and his band some of the formidable musical activists around – proponents of a better world their message is particularly noticeable on their latest release, Stay Human.
"My music is a reflection of what I see, and I can't take a back seat when I see what's going on – I feel it necessary to do my part to bring attention to the injustices I see occurring every day in the world around me."
Franti has made a career of challenging the status quo, whether in song or in action, and his continual criticism of accepted industry norms could limit his potential to make money and have hit records, but he adeptly turns the tables on that discussion to bring to light the problems of the music industry.
"Anytime you've got Britney or artists like Jah Rule, to me, they're more dangerous than what I'm doing. They're selling something, an image of what success is. I'm pointing out what's there, calling attention to the disparity I see around me. How dangerous is it when, on one hand, you've got young girls thinking that if they don't look like Britney, they won't be appealing, and, on the other hand, in Jah Rule's case, somehow prison is something to be revered and it's (an) acceptable achievement in a person's life? Jail is a bad thing – it's not an achievement or a mark of status. I believe that's how dangerous this industry can become."
From recent personal experience – Franti and Spearhead recently played a gig at a maximum security facility in California – jailhouse chic isn't all that the current string of hip hop artists say it's cracked up to be. In fact, his experience playing in a jail further emphasized for Franti the growing racial disparity in America, which is a key issue that he continues to speak passionately about and address with his music.
"The trouble there (in the penitentiary), it’s like a microcosm of the bigger picture in America – the system plays off the differences and relies on them to maintain power. The system needs to reinforce racial stereotypes in order to maintain control of the prison – without it, they don't have the same authority. That's how those in power stay in power – by separating us."
Franti's guiding light sparkles when discussing political issues. He remains an adept spokesperson for matters of justice and the human condition, which he has acted upon and addressed throughout his career, whether by performing at glamorous gigs or organizing festivals. Music is certainly his way of bringing together different people from diverse backgrounds. As for the future of music, Franti is certain good things will come and a message of humanism will once again return.
"There will be a change and it will come from musicians and fans who crave more meaning than we are being sold. You can see it in the little things, like with the resurgence of spoken word, the Def Poetry Jam festivals, people are waking up again, looking for something more than what has been offered, looking for a message.
"The funny thing is, once the industry of music takes over, that's when the musicians will get to take the music back, because the industry is so busy looking for the dollars it neglects the other half of their equation. People know that – it’ll take time." |
