¡Sinophone!

About

In collaboration with Jade Music Fest, ¡Sinophone! presents three sets of artists. Taiwanese band Lilium blends traditional beiguan and nanguan music with contemporary rock. JUNO Award-winning Jacq Teh shows off her jazz background with a tribute to her grandfather and Teresa Teng. Singer-songwriter Chynna Lewis writes from her soul, sharing stories of her experiences as a Taiwanese immigrant.

“Sinophone” refers to anyone who is Chinese-speaking across the broad spectrum of Sinitic languages. This series of programs is co-presented by Jade Music Fest and TAIWANfest. ¡Sinophone! aims to promote the diversity of Chinese-language music and showcase artists from different countries, music genres, and dialects, as well as encourage the long-term cultural and music exchange between the East and the West.

About Jacqueline Teh

JUNO Award-winning songwriter Jacqueline Teh is widely recognized for her captivating vocal arrangements and limitless songwriting. As described by CBC Music, her voice is “a summer breeze – warm and inviting.” Teh’s songwriting can be found on Sammy Jackson’s JUNO Award-winning album With You, and her innovative writing style with jazz/R&B ensemble Moodset has earned her an award through TD Jazz Festival’s Discovery Series.

In 2020, her songwriting caught the attention of Grammy Award-winning artist Anderson .Paak who expressed an interest in producing one of her original songs. Currently based in Markham and Toronto, Teh, along with her songwriting endeavours, also cares deeply about music education and accessibility in the arts.

She is currently on faculty at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music in the Jazz Area, where she teaches jazz voice and directs the Small Vocal Jazz Ensemble. She serves as the executive director and choral conductor for St. James Town Community Arts, a non-profit organization providing free arts education to children and youth in St. James Town.

About Lilium

From Taipei, Lilium’s 2019 debut album Burnana made a significant impact, winning them the prestigious titles of Best Rock Album and Best Newcomer at the Golden Indie Music Awards. This was just the beginning of their journey to success. Their second album Road to…, released in 2021, continued their winning streak, securing the titles of Best Taiwanese Album and Best Album Design at the Golden Melody Awards.

Lilium has been experimenting with Taiwanese traditional music for many years. They combine nanguan, beiguan and the moon lute with bossa nova, metal, synth-wave, disco-funk and more. Paired with their witty, humorous lyrics, this is a neo-Taiwanese Future-Retro ballad for the new generation!

About Chynna Lewis

Chynna Lewis is a Pop/R&B singer-songwriter based in Toronto. Her music deftly weaves R&B, soulful vocals and folk into classic pop songwriting, creating a dreamy, modern and genre-blurring sound. Her unique style can be found in her most recent self-produced EP, What Are Friends For. The EP was spotlighted on CBC Radio One, Exclaim!, and several major International Spotify Playlists.

As a vocalist, Lewis has supported international and local artists such as Ed Sheeran, Jessie Reyez, Charlotte Day Wilson, and Jully Black. She has also appeared on world-renowned stages such as The Late Late Show with James Corden, The Budweiser Stage, Scotiabank Arena and the Toronto Jazz Festival. She also opened the Toronto Raptors NBA Game by leading the Canadian and American National Anthems on home court.

Since moving to Canada from Taiwan at the age of eleven, her journey as a young immigrant navigating a culturally in-between identity and finding an unlikely place in the arts is what inspired her to begin writing her songs on the family piano. These creative instincts eventually led her to her career in music.

Lewis is an alumnus of the Humber College Contemporary Jazz Vocal program, where she studied with Canadian music icons Larnell Lewis and Rik Emmett.

Striving to be a contributor to the representation of Asian artists in the music industry, Lewis is overjoyed to be sharing her first EP with the world. She is working on her sophomore full-length album, which will be released in the winter of 2024/2025.