Raffi
Dog On The Floor
July 27, 2018
As the world's best-selling children's entertainer, pioneering troubadour Raffi has spent more than four decades delighting successive generations of kids—and their parents—with his playful, exuberant personality and his irresistibly infectious songs. In that time, Raffi has recorded numerous gold and platinum albums and performed countless sold-out concerts. He has also emerged as a respected advocate on behalf of children, lending his voice, insight and experience to a number of crucial issues.
Raffi's newest release, Dog on the Floor, is the artist's 25th album. The 15-song set embodies the qualities of fun, imagination and learning that have always animated Raffi's songs. Raffi's new material encompasses playtime ("Play Play Play"), affirmation ("The Way It Goes") and the nurturing roles of family and community ("Love Grows Love," "Market day" and "It Takes A Village").
Turning 70 this summer, Raffi is as busy as ever. He is working towards a September 2018 launch of an online course in Child Honouring-an original philosophy for redesigning society for the greatest good by meeting the universal needs of the very young. https://www.childhonouring.org
Dog on the Floor also reflects Raffi's abiding love and respect for animals, in such songs as "Listen to the Horses," "Dragonfly" and an updated reading of the classic "Mary Had A Little Lamb." Other highlights include a memorable interpretation of the Beatles' "Here Comes the Sun," and no less than three songs inspired by Raffi's new puppy Luna: the title track, "Walking My Dog" and the self-explanatory "Luna's Song."
Dog on the Floor continues the homespun recording approach that Raffi began on his 2014 album Love Bug, which marked his return to recording after an extended hiatus, and its followup Owl Singalong. Raffi did most of Dog on the Floor's recording in the relaxed atmosphere of his home on Canada's Salt Spring Island.
"I loved the process of recording this album," says the artist. "It was almost effortless. Daniel Lanois, who engineered my first four albums, encouraged artists to '...record where you're comfortable.' I took that to heart, and now I record 80 or 90 per cent of an album in my home. Recording has become a comfortable part of my life, rather than some big thing that gets me all nervous. "My engineer, Ken Burke, also loves the relaxed approach.
Raffi found the making of Dog on the Floor to be a particularly fulfilling creative experience. "I play six stringed instruments on this album," Raffi notes. "I play my main concert guitar, and also another six-string guitar that I bought here on Salt Spring Island, and also my ukulele, which I bought three years ago. I also played two cigar-box guitars, one with three strings and one with four strings.
"Many of the songs on this album came from these instruments," he continues. "'Play Play Play' came immediately when I played the four-string. It has a banjo-like sound, and when I played it, that song emerged. And when I was looking for instrumentation for 'Dragonfly,' the three-string was perfect. I also played three-string lead on 'Listen to the Horses.' So there are a lot of new sounds on this album, or at least sounds that you've never heard on one of my albums."
Dog on the Floor once again demonstrates Raffi's love for animals and nature. "Animals enrich our lives," Raffi notes, adding, "I'd wanted to write a song about dragonflies for a long time, because it always feels like a good omen when they're around. And I wanted to do 'Mary Had A Little Lamb' because it's a great little song.
"I wrote 'Take A Breath' a couple of years ago, inspired by the work being done by Stuart Shanker who says that we have an epidemic of anxiety, that we all need to look at the stressers that make us so anxious, and that we need to know how to take five minutes, to just take back the center of calm that's within us. The idea is to teach adults and kids that they have the ability to come back to the center when they feel moved to their edges by anxiety.
"And the bonus song, which I actually recorded back in 1999, is 'It Takes A Village,' which is from the proverb 'It Takes A Village to Raise A Child.' I think it's a good reminder for young parents facing the challenges of child-rearing in a digital age. It's a reminder that we do need each other's support. We're happier and stronger when we're part of a caring community where we can rely on one another."
The George Harrison-penned Beatles classic 'Here Comes the Sun' meshes well with the Raffi originals that dominate Dog on the Floor. "I've wanted to do 'Here Comes the Sun' for awhile," Raffi says, adding, "It's my third Beatles song; previously I did 'Yellow Submarine' and "Octopus' Garden.' You can imagine the responsibility I feel to do a good job when it's a Beatles song. Because of the rhythmic complexity of 'Here Comes the Sun,' it took me awhile to learn it on guitar well enough to record it, but I'm really pleased with how it came out."
Born in Cairo, Egypt into an artistically inclined family of Armenian descent, Raffi Cavoukian moved with his family to Canada at the age of ten. By the mid-'70s, he was a young singer-songwriter performing in the folk clubs and coffeehouses of his adopted hometown of Toronto, when he was invited to perform for children in a classroom setting. Raffi's uncanny ability to connect with young listeners led to him launching his own label, Troubadour Music, and recording his first children's album, Singable Songs for the Very Young, in 1976 with borrowed funds in Daniel Lanois' small basement recording studio.
After being picked up for distribution by A&M, Singable Songs struck a responsive chord with children, parents and educators, setting in motion a career that would soon set records and break down boundaries, rescuing children's music from bargain-bin pricing and sub-par production values. Within a few months, Raffi was selling out theater-sized venues and winning widespread acclaim as an entirely new kind of children's performer.
A series of best-selling albums and concert DVDs—including such popular Gold and Platinum-selling titles as Baby Beluga, Rise and Shine, Raffi's Christmas Album, One Light One Sun, Everything Grows, Evergreen Everblue, Bananaphone, Raffi Radio and the all-star Country Goes Raffi, which found such noted country acts as Alison Krauss, Marty Stuart and Asleep at the Wheel performing Raffi songs—followed, selling over 15 million copies in the U.S. and Canada. Meanwhile, his beautifully illustrated Songs to Read book series has sold more than three million copies.
As a longstanding advocate for a child's right to live free of commercial exploitation, Raffi has continued to refuse all endorsement offers, and he has never directly advertised or marketed his music to children. He turned down a proposal to make a film based on his beloved classic "Baby Beluga" because the film and various related products would be marketed directly to children.
In 1999, Raffi published The Life of a Children's Troubadour, a startlingly forthright autobiography that encompassed the artist's personal and professional experiences as well as the development of his philosophy. While remaining a passionate advocate for children, he expanded his creative horizons with a pair of acclaimed albums of adult-oriented songs, 2006's Resisto Dancing and 2009's Communion. In 2010, after many years of reflection and advocacy, Raffi founded the Centre for Child Honouring on Salt Spring Island in British Columbia.
A recipient of the Order of Canada and the United Nations’ Earth Achievement Award, Raffi also holds four honorary degrees. He is associated with many NGOs, including the Darwin Project Council, the Center for Partnership Studies, the Center for Children’s Health and the Environment, and the Fraser Mustard Institute for Human Development.
Now, as millions of former kids who grew up with his songs—whom the artist has dubbed "Beluga grads"—sing those songs to their own children, and bring their children to his concerts, Raffi, who turns 70 this summer, is enjoying making music as much as ever.
"I actually feel that I'm at my best these days," he concludes. "I'm feeling as musically engaged and as creative as ever. And it's wonderful to be able to say that. "