Tiger Tiger festival aims to create space for healing and ‘radical joy’ for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders

Joe Kye is a Korean-American classically trained musician and storyteller who has opened for cellist Yo-Yo Ma, comedian Hari Kondabolu and Sen. Bernie Sanders. He is also the creator of Tiger Tiger, a one-day festival taking place in Portland this Sunday, which features musicians, poets and food carts celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. But it is also a space for healing and “radical joy” organized by Kye in response to anti-Asian bias and attacks which have surged during the pandemic.

Joe Kye joins us to share his vision for Tiger Tiger and how his identity as a first generation immigrant has shaped his music. Julia McGarrity also joins us. She is the lead singer of June Magnolia, one of the acts performing at Tiger Tiger.

The following transcript was created by a computer and edited by a volunteer:

Dave Miller: This is Think Out Loud on OPB. I’m Dave Miller. We start today with Tiger Tiger. It is a one-day festival taking place at Portland’s Fern Hill Park this Sunday. It’ll feature musicians, poets and food carts in celebration of diverse and vibrant Asian American and Pacific Islander communities in the region. It was created in response to the increase in anti-Asian bias attacks. The idea is to create a space for healing and for joy. The musician and storyteller Joe Kye created Tiger Tiger. He joins us now along with Julia McGarrity. She is the lead singer of June Magnolia, which will also be performing at the festival. Welcome to you both.

Guests: Thank you so much for having us. Thank you.

Miller: Joe first. How did this festival come to be?

Joe Kye: We had a friend of ours, Jane Louis, who is the bandleader of Soraya, an electro pop outfit based in Los Angeles. Jane reached out and said, ‘hey could we perhaps do a little bill together?’ And as we started planning Julia from June Magnolia came on board and we realized, wow, and a bill, a show featuring all API-lead bands, that sounds pretty cool, and something that is deserving of a little more time and energy.

And so we called the Portland Parks and Recreation, Summers Are Free For All Concert Series. We started reaching out to community partners and thus, Tiger Tiger was born.

Miller: Julia. Why did you want to be a part of this project?

Julia McGarrity: I think that being a musician and also an educator and a leader in social justice in the Beaverton School District, this event specifically [was] a representation of a lot of work that I’m trying to push forward in my music and with the community.

Miller: Joe, what do you most hope will come from this event?

Joe Kye: Well, I would love for attendees to walk away thinking of the term of these identities: Asian American, native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander. As a terminology that is constantly in motion, that is constantly being created. I think there’s a tendency in society at large to exotic-ize and also to lock these identities in the past. I think of my grandma, who was born in Korea. When people think of Asian, they tend to think of that, as opposed to a series of conversations and stories that are currently being told. And I think it’s events like Tiger Tiger that allow us to see that, to witness that, and participate in that co-creation.

Miller: And Julia. What about you? What are you hoping that audience members and also artists will take from Sunday’s event?

McGarrity: That’s a great question. I think that music and art and food are such wonderful aspects of culture, but so often we choose to enjoy those things selectively, and don’t really get to know the people who are actively creating and changing them. Music and art have a history of having ethos, to provide deep cultural change. It’s a vehicle that provides less resistance in the reactionary mind.

Miller: Joe, I noted that this festival has been designed as a very conscious response to the increase in reports of anti-Asian bias and hate crimes around the country, including in Oregon. What is your hope for how a musical and cultural festival can counteract hate?

Kye: Bias crimes [and] hate crimes which we have witnessed against Asian Americans recently, all over the country as well as Portland … I think these crimes are an attempt to bully and silence and push us further towards the margins. And an event like Tiger Tiger to me is a really beautiful way to respond to that. That we can come together and be radically joyful to celebrate loudly and be seen in spite of that.

Miller: Radically joyful. I want to turn back to that, how you program that. But let’s listen to some music right now from both of you. Joe, we can start with you. We’ll listen to one of your songs in just a second. It’s called Stick On Me. What was the genesis of this song, before we listen to it?

Kye: This was written right around 2016, after President Trump was elected, and was spouting a lot of racist and hateful sentiment, pretty equal opportunity, but definitely towards Asian Americans as well. And so I think my initial response, when I see, hear that type of rhetoric, is to shrink away and to withdraw within myself, to lock the doors and distrust humanity. It takes a lot of effort and energy for me to practice that level of compassion, to be able to see the humanity and everyone, and to try to progress as a whole society. So the song Stick On Me, I think it encapsulates that tension, my desire to heal myself. But then also to protect myself while simultaneously trying to reach out to those that don’t view the world the same way that I do.

Miller: Let’s have a listen, this is Stick On Me: [Music plays]

“So stick on me and go lick your wounds, and grow together. So stick on me and go lick your wounds and we’ll learn each other . . . [fades out]

Just listening to that, and hearing your description of it in advance, I was struck by how hard it must be to do what you set out to do. Basically, it’s a kind of turning the other cheek, or seeing the humanity in people who don’t see YOUR humanity. That seems remarkably hard.

Kye: I would have to agree. Yeah, it is remarkably hard . And on some days I don’t have it, and I’m filled with anger and sadness. And on other days perhaps when one of my children giggles particularly beautifully, then I’m filled with a little bit of hope.

Miller: Julia. Let’s hear one of your songs now. It’s called New Love. It was released as a single in the early months of the pandemic, in June of 2020, and it’s now on your most recent album, Memory Palace, which came out just last month. What do you want folks to know about this if anything, before we hear an excerpt?

McGarrity: Well, first and foremost, it was written for my students and children in our very community. And it’s a song about learning to love yourself and your full identity, healing the generational trauma within all of ourselves. Letting go of those who tolerated you, and finding the people that choose to celebrate uplift and see you. The greatest advice that I’ve ever been given as a musician, is you have to go where the heat is. And that’s what this song is about.

Miller: This is New Love by June Magnolia. [Music plays].

That’s New Love by June Magnolia. Julia McGarrity is a musician and lead singer behind the band. Joe Kye is a Portland-based musician and storyteller and the creator of the Tiger Tiger Festival. The festival’s going to take place this Sunday from 4 to 9 p.m. at Fern Hill Park in Northeast Portland. Admission is free and open to all ages. You can find more information at TigerTigerpdx.com. Julia, I want to go back to what you said before. We heard that song that the best advice you heard as an artist, is go where the heat is. What does that mean in practice?

McGarrity: Absolutely. I think that in my music, there’s a lot of tempo changes and things that weren’t really being seen from an artist that looked like me. Growing up, I would continually run into the same wall of people really not understanding my position, maybe from a cultural context, but also from a music perspective. And so going where the heat is, is just going where everyone needs to stay warm, but you can’t hang out where you’re going to freeze. You have to find the people that are going to allow you to continue to grow that flame.

Miller: That song was featured in NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert Series. What did that experience mean to you?

McGarrity: Just completely unbelievable! Just as unbelievable as I’m talking with you and your familiar voice right now. Wow! Just, I am so grateful still to have any recognition. Just thinking of myself as this educator that’s local here in the Portland area. I never thought that my music would reach Bob Boilen’s ears ever. So I am very excited and beyond grateful.

Miller: Joe, the two of you will be performing at Tiger Tiger on Sunday. What else can people expect over the course of this afternoon and evening?

Kye: People can expect some delicious food. I think it’s going to be in the upper seventies. So you know putting a picnic blanket out on the grass of Fern Hill Park, you’ll have children dancing with lychee glaze from HeyDay pdx’s rice flour donuts covering their face. There will be some poetry. There’s a community mural that the pretty renowned local artist, Alex Chu will be leading the community in, so you can grab a brush and join in on the painting. I think it’s just gonna be a really interesting cross-section of the many diverse stories, as well as art forms that the Asian American, native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander community in Portland has; can flex with.

Miller: Had you ever put together an event of this magnitude before?

Kye: No, not really. And honestly I had no plans to even perform this year. I think last year was pretty difficult, and this winter was filled with a lot of personal challenges. I am a primary caretaker of two 3-year-olds. And yet as I started, as this idea started to take hold, having Julia, as well as Linda Addy, Kim Gumbel, all these people who decided to volunteer their time and energy to make this event a reality, the organizing was relatively easy, surprisingly much easier than I thought, and something that I enjoyed dedicating myself to.

Miller: We have time for one more song of yours, Happy Song. What should we know about this?

Kye: This is I guess this is my anthem of childhood. I grew up, I’m an immigrant. I moved to the U.S. when I was six. This song is to me, as a son of low-income immigrants, growing up in the Pacific Northwest, is about searching for joy amidst suffering, and yet finding it.

Miller: This is Happy Song:

[Music plays] Don’t you worry about a thing. I’m hearing your park in two. I dream of escaping this madness that surrounds us, confounds us, leaves us astounded and doubtful of love around us, when all I have to do is say, hello, how are you? How does it feel? Is that so is that true for you too? Yes, all I do may not lead to success, but the days I digress, I am blessed as a guest, to dance with the best of us, cry with the worst of us, and stretch like the octopus inside of us, in spite of us.

Miller: That is Happy Song, by Joe Kye. You mentioned that you’re the primary caretaker of twins, 3-year-olds. My understanding is that Tiger Tiger on Sunday is gonna be the first time that they’ll see you play a show, as opposed to just seeing you working away in your home studio. Is that right?

Kye: Yes. If they even see that. We’ll go down to the home studio and sing Ponyo and Totoro together, but it’s very different from actually being able to show my kids [that] this is what I do for a living. This is what brings me joy. It’ll be the first time they see me perform. I’m beyond excited for that.

Miller: And the first time just in general, you’ll be performing in front of live human beings?

Kye: I think that there have been a couple of other opportunities, a few community events, but certainly of this magnitude, and also being outdoors, I think reduces some of the anxiety level for me around Covid.

Miller: Joe Kye and Julia McGarrity, thanks so much. Congratulations and have fun on Sunday.

Guests: Thank you so much.

Miller: Joe Kye is the creator of the Tiger Tiger Festival. Julia McGarity is going to be performing there. She is a musician and the lead singer of the Portland band June Magnolia. Again, Tiger Tiger is taking place this Sunday from 4 to 9 p.m. at Fern Hill Park in northeast Portland. You can find more information at TigerTigerPDX.com.

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