Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Brian Jordan. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Brian, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

Thankfully, it’s difficult to choose! I will focus on a children’s album called “World of Love” that I got to create with my bandmates Dwight Dunston and Emyne Sanders-Rasul. The album was many years in the making and represented a pivot after our first 5 years of primarily making social justice music/sharing workshops for middle school-aged students through adults. We learned more about cognitive development research by Drs. Mamie and Kenneth Clark, among many others, and how prejudice forms very early on (before age 3!) but that we can interrupt that prejudice when we talk in our homes and classrooms about race, celebrating our differences, about fairness, standing up for each other, self-love, caring, and sharing with all people. The Tao Te Ching says, “Sow the great in the small. Difficult things of the world are best tackled in their small beginnings.”

The album “World of Love” is a culmination of our hopes and dreams for the next generation and what we hope could be a musical vaccination against bigotry and hatred. The album features students from public, charter and independent schools in Philadelphia as well as renowned advocates for racial justice in education, Dr. Howard Stevenson, Dr. Peggy McIntosh and Dr. Ali Michael.

This album is a musical love letter to the world we need. May it spread Love, justice, freedom, hope, virtue, peace, and gratitude.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am an educator and songwriter who might remind you a little bit of a younger and less cool version of Mister Rogers. (or at least I wish I did…) I am a 1st/2nd grade teacher at the Philadelphia School (in Philadelphia :) and co-founded the music and social justice education group City Love (https://www.muchcitylove.com) with Dwight Dunston in 2014. I am also a lead trainer with the University of Pennsylvania’s Lion’s Story leading racial literacy trainings throughout the country. I fell into teaching by accident in 2006 when one of my Italian professors suggested I apply to teach Italian 101 at the University of Wisconsin Madison after graduation (I think they were short on actual Italians and my Italian got pretty fluent when I got the opportunity to study abroad in Bologna, Italy and then snuck down south where my great grandparents were from to work on some farms down there as a volunteer). I realized I loved teaching, but had majored in Italian and Environmental Studies, so I went back for a Masters Degree in Early Childhood/Elementary Education from Temple University. I have been on this life-long journey of understanding my stories, my identities, and the world around me since 2005 living in a housing co-op in Madison, Wisconsin where some of my brilliant and gracious housemates opened my eyes and heart. A few years later I started teaching myself guitar and I began making songs about what I was learning as a way of trying to make sense of it all and crystallize those lessons for myself. City Love was a natural outgrowth of this process for Dwight Dunston and I on similar roads. It was such a formative process, and it continues on.

City Love continued to grow through the years and although Dwight Dunston moved on in 2020, we began building a team the year before he planned to depart. Now there are 6 of us on the team. We are teachers and musicians who make “music for the world we need” and use our songs to spread love, hope, dialogue, justice and healing. We have shared assemblies, workshops, and performances at schools, colleges, and conferences throughout the country with tens of thousands of students, educators and people of all ages. We were 2018-19 Haverford College Friends in Residence and 2019 Equity in Action Grantees and won the 2020 Mid-Atlantic Song Contest Silver Award for our song, “Make It Beautiful”. off our first children’s album, World of Love. Our animated music video, “Beautiful” from that album has been viewed over 12 million times! In honor of our tenth anniversary we worked on a new album which we hope to release later this winter!

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I’m a shy person in many regards, and I try to be humble. I’ve learned that I needed to embrace both of those qualities, but really push myself to be bold in order to help these songs that I felt blessed with reach young hearts and minds. I’ve had to step into leadership roles that don’t feel natural or comfortable, I’ve had to step into power in order to advocate for my bandmates and our work. The journey keeps on going. One of my uncles says, “everybody’s selling something.” and I realized that I needed to try and “sell” our work to schools, conferences and others. When I was able to recognize that it wasn’t about me, it was about a mission of reaching children, families and teachers with messages and melodies that came to us from who knows where, and I needed to embrace the discomfort of promoting our work and advocating for the funding that would help sustain our work. It’s still not easy for me, but I’ve gotten a lot better at it over time, I hope!

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

When a family tells us or sends a video of their baby or toddler or young child singing along to our music, it is such a profound honor. When a family tells us or sends a video or audio of their child making up their OWN song about love, justice, celebrating our differences, standing up for each other, etc. it is the greatest honor of all. We hope to ignite creativity with a purpose among as many children (and grown-ups!) as we can! Songs are spells. Songs are medicine. Songs are prayers. Songs are promises. When we sing them together, it can be so healing and powerful.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.muchcitylove.com
• Instagram: @muchcitylove
• Facebook: @muchcitylove
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@citylove5448
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/muchcitylove

Image Credits

Photo Credits Charlie Raboteau, Simone Partridge, and Zack Garlitos