Children's entertainer In the early 1970s, Raffi frequented a Toronto guitar store near
Yonge and Wellesley called Millwheel, where he met other developing Canadian musicians such as
David Wilcox and John Lacey. He befriended Lacey, a folk guitarist from
Oakville, Ontario, who helped Raffi improve his
finger picking. Raffi continued playing folk guitar in coffee houses in Toronto and Montréal before hitchhiking to
Vancouver in 1972 to find "fame and fortune." His first performance for children was in 1974, at a nursery school run by his mother-in-law. His first album,
Singable Songs for the Very Young, was produced in his friend's basement and released in 1976. The album was influenced by three educators, including his then-wife. In 1979, he wrote "
Baby Beluga", possibly his most famous song, after meeting a female
beluga whale named Kavna at the
Vancouver Aquarium. He took a break from music from 1989 to 1990. In 1999, he released his autobiography,
The Life of a Children’s Troubadour. He is currently the president of
Troubadour Music Inc., a
triple-bottom-line company he founded to produce and promote his work. He released recordings for a number of other artists, including Caitlin Hanford and Chris Whiteley. As of 2017, Raffi continues to perform and appears occasionally across Canada and the United States. His most recent album is "Penny Penguin", a collaboration album with Canadian trio
The Good Lovelies which was released in 2024.
Advocacy Raffi's recent musical work focuses on social and environmental causes and appeals to the generation who grew up with his children's music ("Beluga Grads") to effect change in the world. He also promotes those causes through his books, academic lectures and as a speaker. Raffi has been involved with environmental advocacy since 1989, releasing a music album for adults about climate change,
Evergreen, Everblue, the following year. In 2004, he released "Salaam Shalom," a song calling for the end of the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In September 2019 he released song "Young People Marching", which was written for
Greta Thunberg. Raffi is a member of the Canadian charity Artists Against Racism.
Child Honouring In 1997, Raffi developed the idea of "Child Honouring", which he described in 2021 as "a vision of an extraordinary social-change revolution with the universal human at its heart, and that universal human is the human child". In 2006, he described the Child Honouring ethic is described as a "vision, an organizing principle, and a way of life—a revolution in values that calls for a profound redesign of every sphere of society." His "Covenant for Honouring Children" outlines the principles of this philosophy. In 2006, with Dr. Sharna Olfman, he co-edited an anthology,
Child Honouring: How to Turn This World Around, which introduces Child Honouring as a philosophy for restoring communities and ecosystems. It contains chapters by
Penelope Leach,
Fritjof Capra,
David Korten,
Riane Eisler,
Mary Gordon,
Graça Machel,
Joel Bakan,
Matthew Fox,
Barbara Kingsolver,
Jean-Daniel Ó Donncada, and others. The book's foreword is by the
14th Dalai Lama. The musical album
Resisto Dancing: Songs of Compassionate Revolution was released as a tie-in for the book. In a 2006 speech,
Iona Campagnolo, Lieutenant Governor of
British Columbia, referred to Child Honouring as a "vast change in the human paradigm." Raffi advocates for a child's right to live free of
commercial exploitation and he has consistently refused all commercial endorsement offers. Raffi's company has never directly advertised nor marketed to children. In 2005, he sent an open letter to Ted Rogers of
Rogers Wireless, urging them to stop marketing cell phones to children. He also turned down a film proposal for "Baby Beluga" because of the nature of the funding, which was based on exploitative advertising and marketing. Raffi has been hailed for his work as "Canada's all time children's champion". In October 2006, Raffi was presented with the
Fred Rogers Integrity Award by the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood at the Judge Baker Children's Center in Boston, for his consistent refusal to use his music in endorsements that market products directly to children. In 2012, after learning details surrounding the online bullying, exploitation and ultimate suicide of teenager
Amanda Todd, Raffi and his Raffi Foundation for Child Honouring co-founded the Red Hood Project with business owner, former Crown prosecutor, community and arts philanthropist and advocate Sandy Garossino and design professional, writer, educator and community activist Mark Busse. Red Hood Project is a movement for consumer protection for children online that launched in November 2012. In June 2013, Raffi published the book
Lightweb Darkweb: Three Reasons to Reform Social Media Before it Re-forms Us, which examines both the benefits and the dangers present on the internet and in social media. == Personal life ==