In quarantine, Franti is reimagining the world
As someone whose great happiness is so intrinsically tied to performing in front of a massive audience, Michael Franti is coping unexpectedly well with life in quarantine.
The San Francisco musician and social activist was getting ready to come home from a family trip in Bali, where he owns a yoga retreat hotel, in March when the pandemic reached the Bay Area. The original plan was to wait it out for a week or two, then resume rehearsals with his folkie reggaerock band Spearhead for a national tour and its annual appearance at the BottleRock Napa Valley festival during Memorial Day weekend.
Then all the flights got canceled.
“We’re kind of stuck here,” Franti said from Bali during a recent live virtual member event with Chronicle subscribers.
So instead of boarding a tour bus, filming music videos and setting up photo shoots to gear up for the release of the band’s new album, “Work Hard and Be Nice,” Franti has been spending his days hanging out with his wife, Sara Agah Franti, and 2yearold son, Taj, in a quiet corner of an Indonesian island.
“As a family, we’ve come so much closer together — also with the community of people that I connect with musically around the world, both other artists as well as people who love our music,” he said. “I really believe that this is an incredible opportunity for us to rethink what we want in our lives as individuals and families, and then how we want the world to be.”
There’s a lot of rethinking to do at the moment.
The Chronicle spoke with Franti before the Black Lives
Michael Franti Stay at Home Concert Tour: 6 p.m. Friday,
June 19. Other concerts set for July 18 and Aug. 15. $22. https://michael franti.manhead merch.com
Matter protests erupted around the world, but he has stayed active and connected to his fans through his Instagram, where he regularly posts messages of support for the social movements closest to his heart and performs his politicalminded, uplifting songs.
“The reason I got into music in the first place is it’s my medicine,” he said. “It’s the thing that helps me to get through the greatest challenges in my life. In our house, at least once a day we crank up the music really loud and we all dance — we all do that together — and it’s really healing for us.”
Franti’s latest single, “I’m on Your Side,” addresses the divisions over politics, gender, sexuality, religion and ethnicity that are roiling the country politically.
The message is, as ever, easy to understand.
“I wanted to make a song that said, ‘I’m on your side,’ ” Franti said. “You’re up in the middle of the night worrying if we’re going to be all right. You’re wondering how you’re going to pay your bills. You’re wondering when is this going to end you. There’s one thing that this virus has shown us, which is that we’re only as healthy as the most vulnerable person in our community. We really need to take care of every single person.”
The singer said he has people in his inner circle who were afflicted with the virus, people who have died and people who are sick. He said he thinks he had the novel coronavirus himself. Although he was never tested, he had all the symptoms.
“It was really scary and rough,” he said. “Yet through it all there’s so much beauty that’s coming out of it: to see the heroism and workers; to see how families are coming together; to see how people are using social media and other ways to really connect in more meaningful ways than they do just on a daily basis. I’ve gotten in touch with friends that I haven’t called in years. So there’s positivity in all of it.”
The 54yearold musician, born in Oakland and raised in Davis, hopes to return soon to his home in Hunters Point, one of the areas in San Francisco hardest hit by COVID19, so he can help in some way, any way. In the meantime, he plans to create as much optimistic content as he can. He’s already writing new songs about this highly emotional period — in between watching “Finding Nemo” with his son.
Franti says he’s thinking of ways to make the world a better place.
“If the world is able to beat this virus, certainly we can organize climate change,” he said. “And certainly we can organize to make sure that everyone in the world is fed. And certainly, we can organize to make sure that everyone has employment and housing . ... Every song I write is about how we get through challenges.”
On Friday, June 19, Franti plans to livestream a concert from
Bali as part of his Stay at Home Tour to celebrate the release of “Work Hard and Be Nice.” Fans who purchase a ticket will get to watch him perform and speak. And more important, he’ll be able to see them too.
“This record is really 17 songs from my heart,” Franti said. “Some are songs about the world. Some are songs that are about what’s going inside me. Some songs are just fun to dance to, and some are songs to hold your sweetheart in your arms and just be together.”