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Raffi, Yo-Yo Ma team up for 'Baby Beluga' anniversary

It has been 40 years since Canadian singer and songwriter Raffi released his classic children’s song, “Baby Beluga.” On Thursday, Raffi celebrated the anniversary in a very special way.

In a new video uploaded to YouTube, Raffi is joined by world-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma to perform the song in a way that people have never heard before.

The pair came together in an effort to shed light on the environmental issues that still plague the Earth, four decades after Raffi first made his musical plea to children to take care of the planet.

The collaboration also includes a brand new verse, aimed just at adults (or “beluga grads” as Raffi calls them in the video):

Now you’ve grown, and you’re on your way,

Makin’ waves in the boundless bay,

With your shining light and your dreams alive,

For the ones you’ve brought this way.

Grown-up beluga, grown-up beluga,

Sing a song of peace, sing a song of diversity, child honouring, social justice, climate action,

We need to hear you,

You beluga grads and me on the go!

Raffi’s music rose to fame in the 1970s and 1980s with hits like “Baby Beluga,” “Bananaphone” and “Down By The Bay.” He took a hiatus from performing for children in the mid-1980s, but has been active performing ever since. Since then, Raffi has also been an activist for multiple causes, including combatting climate change. In 2019, he wrote a song in honour of 16-year-old climate change activist Greta Thunberg called “Young People Marching.”

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