Raffi Cavoukian

Raffi Cavoukian, CM, OBC, is known professionally as Raffi, is a Canadian-Armenian singer-songwriter, author, essayist, and lecturer whose career spans music, education, and social advocacy. Often described as a “global troubadour,” he has built a body of work rooted in compassion, ethics, and respect for children, while also working as a producer, entrepreneur, and founder of the Centre for Child Honouring, a vision for global restoration grounded in the well-being of children and the planet.

Born in Cairo, Egypt, to Armenian parents, Raffi spent his early childhood there before immigrating to Canada in 1958 and settling in Toronto. He was named after the Armenian poet Raffi and grew up in a creatively rich household: his father, Arto Cavoukian, was a noted portrait photographer, as is his brother, Onnig “Cavouk” Cavoukian, while his sister, Ann Cavoukian, later served as Ontario’s Information and Privacy Commissioner. Immersed in Toronto’s folk scene in the early 1970s, Raffi played coffeehouses, ran a campus venue at the University of Toronto, and refined his musicianship alongside emerging artists before a pivotal invitation to sing at a Toronto public school launched his unexpected and hugely successful career as a children’s performer.

Widely regarded as one of the most influential children’s entertainers of his generation, Raffi is beloved for enduring songs such as “Baby Beluga,” “Bananaphone,” “Down by the Bay,” “Shake My Sillies Out,” and “Schmenge Polka,” recorded in an intimate folk style that emphasized warmth, simplicity, and connection. Eschewing large commercial venues and corporate endorsements, he built his work around ethical principles and later expanded his focus to environmental and social justice causes, addressing the generation that grew up with his music. Now based on Mayne Island in British Columbia, Raffi continues to advocate for “Child Honouring” through music, books, lectures, and public engagement, advancing a philosophy that calls for a humane, sustainable world rooted in the dignity and protection of children.