Dr. Shumaila Hemani — Shifting Systems through Storytelling & Sounds

Music is central to Dr. Hemani’s work as a scholar, performer, and facilitator. Drawing on traditions of devotional music, deep listening, and ethnomusicology, her performances explore sound as a way of remembering, witnessing, and shifting systems.

Musical Traditions of South Asia

Dr. Hemani’s musical work is shaped by her training with Ustad Hameed Ali Khan of the Gwalior Gharana and the Latifi lineage of the Shah jo Rāg tradition in Sindh, as well as her academic research in ethnomusicology.

“Staying rooted within traditional forms and honouring those while also bringing in experimentation, Shumaila Hemani sings Sufi epics in South Asian Sufi tradition compellingly,” says Rebecca Bruton, New Works Calgary.

Watch a Performance of a Sindhi Sufi poem by poet-mystic: Sachal Sarmast

Mannat: A Music Debut Album

In 2016, Dr. Hemani received the cultural diversity award that shaped her trajectory towards recording her debut album: Mannat.

Mannat was not only inspired by South Asian Sufi traditions drawn from musical lineages but also by the tradition of composing soundscapes shaped by the work of R. Murray Schaefer and Hildegard Westerkemp.

Sneak Peek into Mannat
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Music for Climate Justice

In 2020, Dr. Hemani returned to Karachi after serving as a music faculty member with Semester at Sea. That summer’s monsoon proved precarious for many as the city experienced some of the worst flooding in its history, displacing hundreds of families.

At the time, Dr. Hemani was compiling her music album inspired by the poetry of Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai. In Bhitai’s poetry, rainfall is often welcomed as a symbol of abundance and renewal. Yet that year—amid COVID-19 and devastating floods—rainfall became perilous.

Moved by the unfolding crisis, Dr. Hemani responded through sound, composing her first climate soundscape, Perils of Heavy Rainfall (Second Prize, Listening During COVID contest by Canadian Association of Sound Ecology). The work marked a turning point in her artistic journey and eventually shaped her 2022 debut album, Mannat, which she dedicated to the victims of the catastrophic floods in Pakistan that displaced more than 33 million people.

Listen to Perils of Heavy Rainfall

The floods revealed not only the environmental consequences of climate inequity but also the emotional and psychological strain carried by communities living through repeated crises. These realities led Dr. Hemani to expand her work toward mental health advocacy and suicide prevention awareness, recognizing care and listening as essential responses to systemic harm.

Music for Mental Health Advocacy (Suicide Prevention Awareness & Hope)

In 2020, Dr. Hemani’s song: Anticipating was featured in the Cross-Canada Tour for Suicide Prevention Awareness & Hope and she was invited to perform for the Alberta’s International Women’s Day event and the Canadian Music Week in 2021.

Listen to Anticipating

“Blending languages to convey a universal sentiment of helplessness and waiting, Shumaila Hemani’s original song Anticipation bears a visceral emotionality and a deep musicality -expertly ushering listeners into a place of contemplation and consideration. Hemani lends her soaring voice to the song of trepidation and trial with skill and delivers an acoustic experience unlike any other. Using both English and Urdu gives this song a specific gravity – forcing listeners of either nativity to hear the story told beyond their bubble. Vocally, this performance bears an impressive amount of emotional vulnerability – something that listeners will respond to, especially in conjunction with these thought-provoking lyrics. The use of just acoustic guitar as the instrumental backing is lovely. Listeners seeking a musically authentic expression of frustration and isolation will find Anticipation to be a prophetic and poetic composition. With lyrics expressed in both Urdu and English, the potential reception and impact of this song are massive!”

Jon Wright, Radio Airplay). (Jon Wright is a trained multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, and music educator with nearly twenty years of experience in the field) In 2020, Anticipating was featured in the Cross-Canada tour for Suicide Prevention Awareness and Hope by the Mysterious Barricades Society-Edmonton.

Dr. Hemani has shared her music and journey at numerous events, including the Map the Systems Canada Finals at Bella Concert Hall, the University of Hawai‘i’s Climate Change and South Asia Conference, and Action Dignity’s Echoes of Equity event, to name a few.

Selected Performances

Sled Island Festival (2023)

Opening for the Sun Ra Arkestra in Calgary

“Starting the show off was Calgary-based Pakistani music researcher/singer/composer/poet/experimental artist, Dr. Shumaila Hemani. Her performance really expanded on the themes of environmentalism, and awareness of the increased climate crises touched on in her debut album “Mannat”. Her thought provoking performance was a mixture of traditional Sufi singing and spoken word pieces, along with a violinist and tabla player.“

CKXU,
For the Record

Covering the performances at the United Church, the Sled Island Festival 2023

Podcast Interviews

A hardcover nonfiction book with a deep indigo dust jacket titled “Writing to Shift Systems” in clean, modern serif typography, resting slightly open on a matte walnut desk. Around it lie neatly arranged sticky notes, a silver fountain pen, and a laptop partially closed, its brushed aluminum catching the light. Soft morning daylight from an unseen window to the left washes over the scene, creating gentle, elongated shadows and subtle highlights on the book’s embossed title. The background falls into a soft bokeh of shelves filled with organized books and archival boxes. Photographic realism, eye-level composition with a shallow depth of field, calm and professional mood, conveying focused, systemic nonfiction authorship.

Canadian Beats

An in-depth feature on Dr. Hemani’s album Mannat (A Prayer, A Wish) and her practice of integrating Sufi music and ethnomusicology to inspire feminist and spiritual renewal.

Watch Here
An expansive corkboard wall covered with a meticulously arranged constellation of index cards, printed excerpts, arrows, color-coded string, and small pinned tags labeled “power,” “policy,” and “community narratives.” The cork texture is warm and tactile against a smooth, neutral-painted studio wall. Late afternoon natural light from a high side window creates diagonal beams across the board, highlighting certain clusters while leaving others in soft shadow. Shot from a slightly angled, medium distance with photographic realism, the composition uses the rule of thirds to draw the eye through complex connections. The atmosphere is analytical yet hopeful, evoking thoughtful systems thinking and the rigorous structure behind nonfiction writing.

No Normal Podcast

A conversation on experimental composition, community listening, and creating art amid climate uncertainty. Dr. Hemani discusses her Energy Matters project and her vision for sound-based climate justice.

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Reviews of the Album: Mannat

A hardcover nonfiction book with a deep indigo dust jacket titled “Writing to Shift Systems” in clean, modern serif typography, resting slightly open on a matte walnut desk. Around it lie neatly arranged sticky notes, a silver fountain pen, and a laptop partially closed, its brushed aluminum catching the light. Soft morning daylight from an unseen window to the left washes over the scene, creating gentle, elongated shadows and subtle highlights on the book’s embossed title. The background falls into a soft bokeh of shelves filled with organized books and archival boxes. Photographic realism, eye-level composition with a shallow depth of field, calm and professional mood, conveying focused, systemic nonfiction authorship.

Edmonton Journal

“Mannat is the point of light this project is hinged upon but, by and large, it’s a sombre work where the sounds of pouring rain and thunder are a literal and symbolic thread. Audio samples of media reports, first-hand accounts, mystic folk tales and her own lyrics are arranged to create audible sculptures evoking powerful imagery and stirring potent emotions.” (Jenny Feniak)

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An expansive corkboard wall covered with a meticulously arranged constellation of index cards, printed excerpts, arrows, color-coded string, and small pinned tags labeled “power,” “policy,” and “community narratives.” The cork texture is warm and tactile against a smooth, neutral-painted studio wall. Late afternoon natural light from a high side window creates diagonal beams across the board, highlighting certain clusters while leaving others in soft shadow. Shot from a slightly angled, medium distance with photographic realism, the composition uses the rule of thirds to draw the eye through complex connections. The atmosphere is analytical yet hopeful, evoking thoughtful systems thinking and the rigorous structure behind nonfiction writing.

Queen City Sounds

Shumaila Hemani’s Powerful Track “Displacement” Evokes a Spirit of Perseverance in the Face of Devastating Uncertainty in the Wake of the Floods in Pakistan. — Queen City Sounds & Art (Dec 4, 2022)

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Reviews of the Album: Mannat

A hardcover nonfiction book with a deep indigo dust jacket titled “Writing to Shift Systems” in clean, modern serif typography, resting slightly open on a matte walnut desk. Around it lie neatly arranged sticky notes, a silver fountain pen, and a laptop partially closed, its brushed aluminum catching the light. Soft morning daylight from an unseen window to the left washes over the scene, creating gentle, elongated shadows and subtle highlights on the book’s embossed title. The background falls into a soft bokeh of shelves filled with organized books and archival boxes. Photographic realism, eye-level composition with a shallow depth of field, calm and professional mood, conveying focused, systemic nonfiction authorship.

Calgary Herald

“Sufi singer pens powerful album in support of victims of catastrophic floods in Pakistan.”

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An expansive corkboard wall covered with a meticulously arranged constellation of index cards, printed excerpts, arrows, color-coded string, and small pinned tags labeled “power,” “policy,” and “community narratives.” The cork texture is warm and tactile against a smooth, neutral-painted studio wall. Late afternoon natural light from a high side window creates diagonal beams across the board, highlighting certain clusters while leaving others in soft shadow. Shot from a slightly angled, medium distance with photographic realism, the composition uses the rule of thirds to draw the eye through complex connections. The atmosphere is analytical yet hopeful, evoking thoughtful systems thinking and the rigorous structure behind nonfiction writing.

Canada’s National Observer

This Alberta-based Sufi singer and songwriter is Artist-in-Residence at Trico Changemakers Studio at Mount Royal University in Calgary. Her prize-winning compositions mix the sounds of climate change-caused catastrophes in South Asia, youthful protests, and her own voice in spoken word, with ancient lyrics, rhythms and tones of Sufi and other South Asian Muslim poets. She was named to the 2023 Women in Music Emerging Artists Honour Roll.

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