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Why Raffi refused to sell out

November 12, 2026 · 37 min

Show notes

For a children’s musician, Raffi is actually pretty punk rock. Long before Baby Beluga and Bananaphone made him a household name, the beloved Canadian icon was a struggling folk singer in Toronto who took out a bank loan just to self-record his first children's album, Singable Songs for the Very Young. That record turns 50 this year, and it’s still soundtracking childhood for a whole new generation. To mark the milestone, Raffi joins Tom Power to reflect on his remarkable five-decade career — from walking away from a lucrative Hollywood movie franchise to putting kids before corporate cash. He talks about his "child-honouring" philosophy, the early childhood research that shaped his music, and why he’s ready to record a duet with Ms. Rachel.

All episodes of Q with Tom Power

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