Shumaila Hemani, Ph.D. (University of Alberta) is an ethnomusicologist, Sufi singer, soundscape composer, and former Music Faculty (Semester at Sea) whose work bridges music, mental health, and climate justice. She has been a keynote speaker and performer at the Map the Systems Canada Finals (Mount Royal University, 2024) and the South Asia and Climate Change Conference (University of Hawai‘i, 2023), and a featured panellist with Music Declares Emergency (2022). The Edmonton Journal applauded Hemani for “creating audible sculptures evoking powerful imagery and stirring potent emotion,” and tackling climate change with Sufi poetry.
Hemani recently published her memoir, Writing in the Wound: Acculturation, Trauma, and Music (2025), which one reviewer described as “contributing to collective human strength to heal the planet — in such a loving, powerful way.” — Norine Braun, award-winning Indigenous singer-songwriter. She has given book talks at the Canadian Centre for Ethnomusicology (University of Alberta), Artist Speak (Mount Royal University), the Canadian Authors Association, and the Creative Nonfiction Collective (upcoming).
Hemani’s original song Anticipating was featured in a cross-Canada tour for suicide prevention awareness, reflecting her commitment to using the arts for community care and social transformation, and her music has been played on CBC, BBC, and radio stations across Canada, the US, and Chile.
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~ Stefanie Drozda, Alberta Ecotrust
