RAFFI Cavoukian is the founder of Child Honouring, a children-first paradigm for global restoration.

He is a renaissance man known to millions simply as Raffi: a renowned Canadian troubadour, record producer, systems thinker, author, entrepreneur and ecology advocate, once called “the most popular children’s entertainer in the western world” (Washington Post). President of Troubadour Music, among the most successful independent record labels, Raffi was a pioneer in music for children and families: his CDs, tapes, videos, and DVDs have sold over 14 million copies in Canada and the US, and his books, more than 3 million copies.

A generation saw him in concert and grew up singing Down by the Bay and Raffi’s signature song Baby Beluga. “Beluga “grads” often tell him they’re now raising their own kids with his songs.

A recipient of the Order of Canada and the United Nations’ Earth Achievement Award, Raffi holds two honourary degrees: Dr of Music, from the University of Victoria, and Dr of Letters, from the University of British Columbia. He is associated with many NGOs, including the Council of Human Development, the Darwin Project Council, the Center for Partnership Studies, the Center for Children’s Health and the Environment, and the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research.

In his 3 decade career, Raffi has refused all commercial endorsement offers, and Troubadour (his triple-bottom-line company) has never directly advertised or marketed to children. He is a passionate advocate for a child’s right to live free of commercial exploitation. Recently, he sent an open letter to Rogers Wireless urging they stop marketing cellphones to kids, and turned down a Baby Beluga film proposal laden with exploitative advertising and merchandising.

Raffi has become a “global troubadour”, lecturing and networking to help create a viable future: a restorative, child-friendly world for ourselves and for those to come. His original philosophy, Child Honouring, is gaining support among eminent thinkers as a systemic remedy for addressing the major issues of our time. His Covenant for Honouring Children is widely circulated among child development, education, ecological economics and environmental health circles (available for download at www.raffinews.com)

RAFFI RENAISSANCE — HIS NEW WORK

Raffi Renaissance: Child Honouring and the Compassion Revolution is a new DVD that shows the path of Raffi’s evolution into an outspoken leader on the major themes of our time. It includes Raffi and the Dalai Lama in conversation, Raffi’s performance for Nelson Mandela, new music videos, and much more.

Resisto Dancing: Songs of Compassionate Revolution, Raffi’s CD of inspirational songs for educators, decision makers, parents, and “beluga grads,” broadcasts the Covenant and its Principles with an infectious and diverse blend of world rhythms.

In the groundbreaking anthology Child Honoring: How To Turn This World Around (foreword by the Dalai Lama, ed. Raffi Cavoukian & Sharna Olfman, Homeland Press, 2006), luminaries from a number of disciplines join the call for a new covenant with the world’s children.

With this book, CD, and DVD, Raffi Cavoukian comes to the world stage as a catalyst for change at a defining point in human history—with an idea whose time has come.