There are people in the world that remind you that anything is possible. Royan Lee is one of them. I always saw him as a leader and a creative visionary, but now that I know a bit more about his story and life, I can truly call him an inspiration. From humble beginnings, Royan found his grounding in suburban family life and in being true to himself. The self-proclaimed stereotypical suburban family man with a mini-van is, for Royan, an arrival at a stable beautiful place of contentment. Royan Lee is a husband, a father, the Curriculum Coordinator for Assessment and Arts at the York Region District School Board, a writer, presenter, and an artist.
Music is a great passion for Royan and was a key factor in his acceptance of my invitation to be a guest on the P3. I had booked him several months in advance, and it gave him time to respond to what he referred to as my “provocation” and to daydream about his song choices. It was a challenge for Royan to curate a playlist noting, “Being a huge music fan, it was difficult to chose three songs.” He found a way to make his selection connect through a common thread, a totally intriguing approach to the task. “…I’m kind of fascinated by that, too… being someone who likes multiple genres and also loves really well done pop music, I just love the idea of the little subtle ways in which musical genres influence each other and artists influence each other, mostly unconsciously.” His recent subscription to a streaming service is taking him out of his comfort zone, helping to expose him to new adventures in music.
As Royan began introducing his nostalgic song, he painted a vivid picture of being young and living in his parent’s first apartment at Bathurst and Finch in Toronto. Lee is a first-generation Canadian with South Korean parents who lived in a, “cockroach infested apartment full of people who shouted a lot in different languages.” His dad was really into stereo equipment, and Royan enjoyed taking the 7 inch vinyl discs out of the paper. “I have such a visceral memory of putting the needle on Heart of Glass and feeling the baseline and rolling drum machine, and just…having a physical reaction to it…being sent into a wonderful vortex where the only thing you are paying attention to is that song and everything else disappears. ” Here is Heart of Glass by Blondie, which Royan refers to as, “the perfect pop song":
Royan's identity song is a reflection of his evolution from his multicultural immigrant neighbourhood with parents who managed a convenience store. His high school years were tumultuous as he began questioning the world around him and dealing with the challenges of being part of an immigrant experience, surviving as part of a lower socio economic class. He escaped by leaving the country. “This is where my coming of age story began.” Now he is “thriving” with his family and career. He chose the song Love Somebody by Ta-ku and Wafia for many reasons. “Sonically, I love the song. It is another perfect song in terms of it’s entire composition from beginning to end…in terms of the hook…in terms of the…pace and beats per minute.” He mentions the “connective tissue” to Heart of Glass in reference to the equipment.
Royan identifies with the meaning of the song because it was written by a multiracial person who grew up in a white world and experienced similar challenges to his own. Our guest recounts: “Ta-ku sought out a collaboration with Wafia, who also comes from a multiracial background with the intersectionality of being a woman of Muslim decent. The synergy of their stories, struggles with their family and co-writing about the pain and challenge of keeping the family together... but that love binds everyone together never-the-less.” As the song says, “When you love somebody, then you stay.” The evocative music combined with the lyrics that connect to his story drew Royan to choose this powerful song to reflect his identity. Here’s Love Somebody by Ta-ku and Wafia:
After speaking a bit about specific genres and how adversity can inform amazing music, we got into Royan’s pick-me-up song. He was a reluctant K-Pop (Korean pop music) fan, but he opened his mind to this music and song as a result of these videos he saw of hip-hop dancers from Korea. Lee shared that, “…hip hop is one of my greatest loves, and when I saw that some of the best hip-hop artistry was coming out of Korea, that’s when I said- hey, I think my people are legit.” Since he first heard this song, he has put it on every day for about a year. He then compared K-pop to a fusion restaurant in such a colourful and enticing way, I was actually salivating to hear the tune. “K-pop took it to an almost scholarly level…it’s almost algorithmic…” This is a song that gets Royan “super pumped" and provides him with "a little swagger for the day.” Here’s Clap by MFBTY:
If you want to learn more about our guest, check out royanlee.com. You can also find him on Twitter at @royanlee. I was thrilled to hear him conclude our conversation saying that it was, “...the most fun he’s had in a while.” One of the things that makes the Personal Playlist Podcast such a special offering is that everybody brings something different to the experience, we get to learn about musical genres, and we all get to know and celebrate an educator making unique contributions to the profession. Royan Lee is a creative force sharing ideas and speaking about parenting engagement, educational technology, digital citizenship, creativity and collaboration and more. On his website it says, “Royan is a family man, educator, and, in the words of his own children, “very…weird”. When he isn’t blogging, reading his RSS feeds, or tweeting about education, technology, and parenting, you can find Royan doing wonderfully mundane things with his three children, two dogs, and beloved wife Janet. He is obsessed with learning relationships and experiences that cause growth and shifts in thinking.” It was such a pleasure starting my day with Royan Lee and unpacking his personal playlist.
