|Spearhead Rocks the Talk
“You can bomb the world to pieces, but you can’t bomb it into peace.” These are the words of Michael Franti of the band Spearhead on the hit CD “Everyone Deserves Music.”
Franti has been making music for more than two decades, and themes of social justice are always central to his songs. His pleas for peace and understanding blend with his rhythms—reggae, hip-hop, and rock, with a global flair—exhilarating audiences around the world.
Beyond making music, Franti helps organize the annual Power to the Peaceful concert in San Francisco, where environmental sustainability and non-violence take center stage.
In 2006 he shot a documentary in Iraq and Israel/Palestine that departs from most political films by showing where people turn to overcome the stresses of war and occupation—“chief among these,” Franti says, are “friendship, humor, art, and music.” Spearhead’s latest album is “All Rebel Rockers.”
|Noah Grant wrote this article as part of Sustainable Happiness, the Winter 2009 issue of YES! Magazine. Noah, YES! Editorial Assistant, is an activist for LGBT rights.|