“Staying rooted within traditional song forms and honoring those while also bringing in experimental elements from electronic production, Shumaila approached the challenge to recording a live-set from home during a period of intense lockdown procedure by interweaving Sufi singing with traditional narratives of epic story-telling in a compelling way.” - Rebecca Bruton
Shumaila Hemani is an Ethnomusicologist and Acousmatic Composer with an expertise in sounds of religion. Her research and performance practice in singing Shah Latif’s sung poetry, Shah jo Raag, has won First Prize at the Society for Ethnomusicology Conference (2017), State of Kuwait Award in Islamic Studies, Frank Henderson Prize in the study of Women and Religion, and Cultural Diversity Award, Edmonton Arts Council (2015) to name a few. Studying with two master musicians in Pakistan, Ustad Hameed Ali Khan Sahib from the Gwalior Gharana in Sindh, and Faqir Jumman Shah from the shrine of Sufi mystic: Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai, Hemani has presented Sufi poetry internationally. Her two compositions: Sarang: Perils of Heavy Rainfall and Supplication were premiered at the SEM, 2020, and her songs Living with Purpose and Anticipating have been in Top 10 within Ethnocloud’s World Music Charts.
“From the shrines of rural Pakistan to the theatres of urban Edmonton, Shumaila Hemani’s performance of traditional Sufi Islamic poetry has mesmerized many.“I think this style of singing is really very powerful and brings forward a person’s true self and connects with other people’s deepest selves. I have no other way of explaining what I encounter through my musical performances,” Hemani said.” - Samantha McKay
Anticipating is a song that catches you when you feel that you are in a rut and looking for a way to move past the challenges you confront. Applauded for its emotional viscerality and contemplation, this song can move you to tears or propel you out of a deep crisis.
“Anticipating has visceral emotionality and a deep musicality expertly ushering listeners into a place of contemplation and consideration. The use of both English and Urdu gives this song a specific gravity - forcing listeners of either nativity to hear the story told beyond their bubble. ” - John Wright
— Radio Airplay