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The Bay-area based musician and poet Michael Franti is long known to Pacifica listeners. Over his 20 year career, Franti and his band Spearhead, have provided a fitting sound track to peace and social justice movements with their songs like Bomb the World and Listener Supported. Franti’s annual music festival Power to the Peaceful, has attracted tens of thousands of people each year, and his recent film called I Know I’m Not Alone, about conflict in the Middle East earned high acclaim. Choosing to record with his own independent label has allowed Franti the freedom to explore a variety of genres, and blend rock, hip-hop, reggae, bossa nova, and funk traditions. His newest album released last year called All Rebel Rockers was recorded mostly in Jamaica. But earlier this year some commercial rock stations discovered Franti’s song Say Hey, off the album and began including it in their playlists. Franti’s popularity skyrocketed and the song reached number 1 status on iTunes and various top 40 lists.

GUEST: Michael Franti, musician, poet

Special thanks to Universal Republic Music for donating CDs to KPFK!