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By Nicole Kennedy
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Michael Franti
at this year's Vancouver Folk Festival
Photo: RA |
"Am I a folk artist?" Michael Franti asked Utah Phillips on stage at
the 26th annual Vancouver Folk Music Festival. In a very real sense, folk music
is the sound and words of and for the people. And Franti believes that in his
sexy fusion funk, hip-hop and soul, "the consciousness is in the music."
Addressing everything from the present day geopolitical balance of power to what
it is to love nowadays, Franti’s sound resonates deeply with today’s
audience.
His new album Everybody Deserves Music contains the song Bomb the World in which
Franti says it like it is, "We can bomb the world to pieces but we can’t
bomb it into peace." Franti left his old label Capital Records, where he
created albums like Home and the silky smooth Chocolate Supa Highway, when they
suggested he team up with Wil Smith. With the goal to "create a label for
conscious, funky, human music," Boo Boo Wax was born. The first release on
the new record label was Michael Franti: Live at the Baobab, recording the acoustic
Franti in a cafe in his hometown of San Francisco. Next was his album Stay Human.
Using a local radio station’s reports in between Franti’s engaging
rhymes and soul funk rhythms, Stay Human tells a devastating tale of the fictional
Sister Fatima.
 I
spent my Saturday, July 19, like a Michael Franti Vancouver Folk Music Festival
roadie touring with him from an early sit down song workshop under the trees,
to a late afternoon hip-hop soul dance party in the blazing sun, and then on to
the evening’s main event stage beneath a starry night sky. It was here that
Michael Franti’s activist magic shone brightly. He enchanted 20,000 people
getting them to dance, raise their arms holding hands of friends and sing, "Everybody
deserves music, sweet music!" More folk deserve to hear his sweet music.
Check out this amazing artist at www.spearheadvibrations.com.
He is Common Ground’s VFF favorite, we will let you know when he’s
next in town.
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