It may be cold and rainy outside, but there will be plenty of warmth and music under the Geodesic Dome at Harbour Green Park this holiday season. That’s because over the next four evenings, Ginalina, Laura Crema Trio, No Sweet Carolines, and Daniel Lew will all perform free concerts on successive evenings as part of Destination Vancouver.
The Vancouver Hotel Destination Association brought back this event, previously known as Liven UP – Coal Harbour, for the second consecutive year. It was initially created to stimulate winter tourism, which already received a huge boost from this year’s Taylor Swift concert.
Tonight (December 19) starting at 6 o’clock, Ginalina will bring her heartfelt family folk music to the stage. Her most recent album, Going Back: Remembered and Remixed Family Folk Songs, Vol. 1, was nominated for a JUNO Award for Children’s Album of the Year. Moreover, it was the Vancouver singer-songwriter’s fourth JUNO nomination.
Over the years, Ginalina has written and sung songs in English, French, and Mandarin. On Going Back, she also sang in Taiwanese Hokkien on “Diu Diu Deng (Taiwanese Train Song).
Watch Ginalina add West Coast flair to “Diu Diu Deng”.
On Friday (December 20), Vancouver jazz vocalist Laura Crema will perform at the Geodesic Dome. She has released five solo albums, the most recent being Blue Shadows on the Trail. Co-produced with talented multi-instrumentalist Scott Smith, it offers her unique take on classics such as Brenda Lee’s “Break it to Me Gently”, Eric Clapton’s “Motherless Children”, and the Allman Brothers Band’s “Ramblin’ Man”.
“I’m always collecting songs and looking into different genres,” Crema told former Georgia Straight music writer Steve Newton in 2021. “What’s great about jazz is that you can actually take different songs and give them your own interpretation.
Laura Crema sings “Bye Bye Blackbird”.
Destination Vancouver presents duelling piano act
Starting at 6 p.m. on Saturday (December 21), Canada’s first Asian women-led R&B duelling piano act, No Sweet Carolines, will show off their chops in the Geodesic Dome. Kristin Fung and ZiZi (a.k.a. D’arcy Han) are each loaded with talent and charisma.
Fung’s second EP, “Live at the Garden”, which was filmed at Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden, amply demonstrated. It includes original compositions such as “Massive Stride”, “You for You”, and “Transcontinental Crush”.
Watch No Sweet Carolines perform live earlier this year.
Meanwhile, the Vancouver-raised ZiZi was a Sing! China finalist in 2017, reaching a TV audience of more than 400 million. Her debut EP, “This is Me”. Was released in 2018. In 2020, ZiZi’s single “Be Alright” racked up more than 1.7 million streams on Spotify.
On their Instagram feed, No Sweet Carolines cheekily caution: “Request Sweet Caroline at your own risk.”
On Destination Downtown’s final night (December 22), another Vancouver songwriter of Asian ancestry will play the Geodesic Dome in Harbour Green Park. Daniel Lew, a third-generation Chinese Canadian, has been performing English-language indie folk music for several years. In 2024, he released the full-length album Destiny.
Over the past year, he has begun writing some songs in Cantonese and Mandarin. He unveiled these new compositions last month in two appearances at the Jade Music Fest. He credits the festival for opening the door for him to perform multilingually in Canada and Asia.
Lew’s Mandarin-speaking girlfriend, Caroline Ding, has helped him in this Chinese language. Vancouver hip-hop musician handwash offered assistance with his Cantonese songwriting.
Daniel Lew’s “Let the Angels Shine” is on his Destiny album.
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