Michael Franti: Gentle Giant Warrior

The Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus once said, “The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it.” Michael Franti, the musician and political activist, lives and breathes this metaphysical mantra, and in turn, is transforming our thoughts through his conscious messages and melodies.

I had the opportunity to spend a few moments with the guru of good vibes before one of his performances to discuss his childhood, career and cultural sentiments.

Barefoot and smiling, Franti radiates a kind of affirmative hope and beauty seldom seen in today’s celebrity excess. Perhaps best known for being a free-spirit, Franti believes in the inherent goodness of people and has tried to express this sentiment throughout his career with his music. Franti, who could be described as a “conscious musician,” not only creates music, but is an instigator of social and political revolutions.

To understand Franti is to understand his roots. Born during America’s cultural revolution in 1966, Franti is the son of an African-American and Native American father, and an Irish-German-French mother, and was later adopted by a Finnish couple who already had three biological children of their own.

Influenced by his adopted family, he was taught about love and acceptance. He quickly connected to music and discovered how songs had the power to inspire and soothe people.

In using these positive inspirations, Franti has engaged fans as both a musician and philanthropist. In 1998, he launched the multicultural music festival in San Francisco called “Power to the Peaceful,” that brings together musicians, artists and vendors to help raise cultural awareness. In addition, he helped to establish a foundation, which also bears the same name, that has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for different humanitarian charities worldwide.

In 2007, he filmed his documentary, I Know I’m Not Alone, which chronicled his travels to Iraq, Israel, and the Occupied Palestinian Territories where Franti, in an effort to bring music in the Middle East, showed the political and social costs of war.

As he reflected on his time spent in Iraq, Franti exuded a fiery passion when he spoke about his time with musicians, doctors, civilians, and soldiers who opened up to him about their personal experiences on war.

“I would just go outside with my guitar and start playing for whoever was there to listen,” he said in a manner that was both disarming and casual.

“I met some really interesting people there. That’s the beauty of music, it brings people together.”

Franti recounted various stories, the most striking being a story about an Iraqi heavy metal band he met called Acrassicauda (or translated to English, “The Black Scorpions”) who was forced to sing songs advocating political propaganda about the late dictator, Saddam Hussein. Extremely touched by his experiences, Franti saw first-hand the effects of war on human freedom, life, and existence.

Much like a philosopher, Franti ruminated on his beliefs about violence and social order. He believed that change began with individuals who had to alter their own perception of the world and move past their fears to recognize that war was not the answer.

“Sometimes the hardest thing to do is just to stay human,” Franti said, pensively.

His ideas of peace were captured in the lyrics of his famous song, “Bomb the World,” that evoked a powerful mantra when he sang the chorus, “You can bomb the world to pieces, but you can’t bomb it into peace.”

“Love is like the lubricant of the universe that keeps it moving.”

When asked about the importance of love in today’s world, Franti, smiling crookedly, responded, “Love is like the lubricant of the universe that keeps it moving. Whether it’s love for another person, or love for the environment, or love for music.”

With the power to move souls, bodies and hearts, Franti is a romantic poet with a warm personality that exudes a contagious energy on and off the stage.

Franti ended our interview to begin his show. As the six-foot-six-inch dreadlocked gentle giant bounced onto stage, he extended his arms high above his head saying, “I wanna show you something beautiful D.C.!” and was answered with a boomerang roar.

From the MO print archive: this story first ran in The Premiere Issue of Meets Obsession Magazine.

• Words: Megan Friend
• Photographer: Kate Reeder