Vancouver singer-songwriter Daniel Lew (廖偉廉) discovered something amazing when he started singing in Cantonese and Mandarin. The alt-folk performer could forge connections with huge new audiences.
A third-generation Canadian, Lew grew up speaking English, though he picked up some Cantonese from his father. When Lew became a musician, he never anticipated performing in a Chinese language. However, as a result of the Jade Music Fest, which aims to make Vancouver a hub for Chinese-language music production, he has mastered some anthemic and iconic cover songs from Asia. One of them was the Hong Kong rock band Beyond’s 1993 hit, “Boundless Oceans, Vast Skies (海闊天空)”.
“Ever since I learned that, it’s almost like an immediate bonding point with anybody that has any sort of Chinese heritage, regardless of where you’re from,” Lew tells Pancouver over Zoom. “And that’s pretty cool.”
He’s also singing and writing music in Mandarin with help from his Mandarin-speaking girlfriend, Caroline Ding. At this year’s Jade Music Fest, Lew plans to perform two original songs entirely in Mandarin as well as one or two songs with half the lyrics in Mandarin. In addition, he will perform another song with half the lyrics in Cantonese.
“I feel really good about finally introducing the Cantonese into the original music,” Lew relates. “Handwash, one of the hip-hop artists as part of Jade, actually helped me with the translation for the Cantonese because Caroline was not able to do that.”
Watch Daniel Lew perform “Boundless Oceans, Vast Skies (海闊天空)”.
Lew looks forward to playing the Vogue
This year’s Jade Music Fest includes several free concerts, artist talks, and panel discussions from November 6 to 9 in Vancouver. Lew’s free show will be on November 7 at Performance Works with Shinlok, Alex See, and Calgary’s Mirabelle Jien. The following evening on November 8, Lew will play the Vogue Theatre for a ticketed event with Jien, Toronto’s Aiko Tomi, Hong Kong pop star Serrini and Taiwanese singer-songwriter and and actor Enno Cheng.
“That’s kind of a dream come true because I’ve seen so many concerts there, just as a music fan,” Lew says.
Festival organizers encourage attendees to register through Showpass.
It’s remarkable to consider that Lew would perform in the language of his ancestors, given his backgroud. His mother speaks some Taishanese (a.k.a. Toisan or Toisanese) and his father speaks Cantonese. But when his dad spoke this language to Lew, he replied in English. Furthermore, once Lew reached a certain age in elementary school, he would feel embarrassed when his dad spoke Cantonese in the presence of non-Chinese friends.
“He slowly started to not speak as much,” Lew says. “So, it’s partly my fault, if I think about it.”
Cantonese has more tones than Mandarin, but Lew finds them equally as challenging to sing. He latches onto the melodies, which help carry the tone to a fair degree. This makes it a little easier to communicate through song rather than by simply speaking.
“I’m focusing most of my actual language learning on Mandarin right now,” Lew states.
Jade debut at Hollywood Theatre
He made his first Jade Music Fest appearance in 2023. It came after he met hip-hop producer and musician Clarence “CNFMUS” Au at a different event for producers and songwriters. Au, who has worked extensively in Asia, asked Lew if he had heard of the Jade Music Fest.
“I said ‘no’,” Lew recalls. “He was, like ‘I think you would be a great fit for this if you sing or write music in Chinese.’ And I said, ‘Oh well, I do neither of those but I would love to have the opportunity.’ ”
Lew applied anyway because the festival was promoting the concept of artists reconnecting with their mother tongues. The Jade Music Fest team accepted his pitch and he performed at the Hollywood Theatre last autumn.
“One thing led to the next and I started to learn how to sing in Chinese,” Lew says.
He took it up a notch after being invited to perform at the Jade Music Fest in Asia in April. In Taipei’s Huashan 1914 Creative Park, he sang covers in Cantonese and Mandarin and added some Mandarin lyrics to his original English-language songs.
That set the stage for him unveiling original Mandarin-language songs at the Vancouver festival in November.
Another big highlight came this year when Lew released his full-length Destiny album. It includes 15 songs. The title track emerged from a dream.
“It’s very metaphorical of each step that I take in my journey, manifesting the next step,” Lew told Pancouver earlier this year. “It’s like watering a plant that keeps growing and growing and growing. So, the song ‘Destiny’ really embodies that.”
Meeting Dan Mangan
He also went on a long road tour from B.C. all the way to Montreal and back, covering about 10,000 kilometres in his vehicle. To help pass the time, he would sometimes listen to Mandarin podcasts to further his grasp of the language.
Lew based his tour around Canadian Music Week, which is an annual music and media conference in Toronto. He wasn’t invited, so he decided to start busking nearby. There, he spotted a musician whom he greatly admires: Vancouver singer-songwriter Dan Mangan.
Lew thanked Mangan for co-founding a booking platform called Side Door, which Lew had used to promote some of his shows on the tour. After learning this, Mangan filmed Lew for an Instagram post, which boosted attendance by 15 to 20 percent at the musician’s show in Waterloo, Ontario.
That wasn’t the only upside. According to Lew, a Mangan fan who owns a brewery saw the video, which led to another gig.
“I just want to continue to grow as an artist and write songs that are exciting to me and are exciting to play,” Lew says. “That was one thing I learned from being on the tour. I just really want to have fun while I’m playing some of these songs, even if they are songs that have a more introspective depth.”
Watch Daniel Lew’s interview with Pancouver editor Charlie Smith.
Event details
The Jade Music Fest will present Daniel Lew at Concerto at 7:30 p.m. on November 7 at Performance Works with Shinlok, Alex See, and Mirabelle Jien. On November 8, Lew will play a ticketed event at the Vogue Theatre with Mirabelle Jien, Aiko Tomi, Serrini, and Enno Cheng. In addition, Lew will give an artist talk at 1:30 p.m. on November 8 in the Alice MacKay Room at the Vancouver Public Library Central branch. The show at Performance Works and the artist talk are free. Festival organizers encourage attendees to register through Showpass.
Update
Watch Daniel Lew’s artist talk at the VPL in the video below.
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This article is part of “Beyond Chinese”, a joint initiative of Pancouver and the Asian-Canadian Special Events Association. Through interviews with artists and cultural workers, Beyond Chinese offers a nuanced view of people with Chinese ancestry. Pancouver and the Asian-Canadian Special Events Association gratefully acknowledge the support of Canadian Heritage.
