“Staying rooted within traditional forms and honouring that while also bringing in experimentation, Hemani sings Sufi epics in South Asian Sufi tradition compellingly,” says New Works Calgary. Shumaila Hemani, Ph.D. in Music from the University of Alberta and the Former Music Faculty is an award-winning Alberta-based Sufi singer-songwriter, acousmatic composer, and performer of traditional South Asian Sufi repertoire. Hemani spoke for an intersectional approach toward climate justice at Music Declares Emergency Climate Summit (2022) and was recently featured on CBC’s What on Earth. Her composition: Perils of Heavy Rainfall received the Second Prize in the Canadian Association of Sonic Ecology (CASE)’s contest (2020) and was published in the Goose (2022). “Her resonant vocals trace a poetic narrative that even if you don’t understand her chosen language for the song conveys a layered, nuanced and powerful expression of loss and perseverance,” says the Denver-based blogger, Queen City Sounds and Arts who acclaimed the track, Displacement to be a powerful piece evoking a spirit of perseverance in the face of devastation and uncertainty in the wake of the floods in Pakistan. Edmonton Journal and Calgary Herald acclaimed her recent album release: Mannat as an “extraordinary, contemplative debut” creating audible sculptures evoking powerful imagery and stirring potent emotion.” Hemani has performed at Bug Incision for Femme Wave (2019), Taylor Centre for Performing Arts for Celebra