Speakers

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  Cofe Inayat Fiakpui
  

  Cofe Inayat Fiakpui

  Cofe Inayat Fiakpui who is of Ghanaian heritage has been immersed in the Eastern traditions of mysticism, music, and healing for 26 years. He owns and runs an internationally renowned healing center in Mexico (Cofethehealer.com) in which radiant and sound frequencies are utilized to heal many conditions. He leads Sound Healing Journeys with his wife Ishi Nili and they offer their music at ceremonies, and spiritual events. He has performed with his group, Indigo Triangle in the World Sacred Music Festival in Los Angeles and the Million More March in Washington D.C.

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  Qahira Lucy Ridsdale
  

  Qahira Lucy Ridsdale

  Qahira Lucy Ridsdale is an Australian-born singer, vocal explorer and sonic pilgrim. Her passion for the healing and radiant power of the human voice has motivated a life-long journey in song that has seen her performing and sharing songs around the world and exploring voice as medicine. In 2014 Qahira completed a Master of Arts in Ritual Chant and Song at the University of Limerick, Ireland, studying a variety of vocal styles including Gregorian chant, medieval polyphony, and sean nós (traditional Irish Song). As a student of the Sufi path, Qahira treads with wonder and gratitude the paths of the voice and delights in the connections between our voices and the inner and outer worlds.

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  Nirtana Vivienne Robertson
  

  Nirtana Vivienne Robertson

  Nirtana Vivienne Robertson is a Representative, Guide and Retreat Guide in the Inner School, a Healing Conductor, Sahabat as-Safa and leader of Dances of Universal Peace. She is dedicated to exploring the collaboration between Sufi and Indigenous ways, and co-leads Sufi/Indigenous retreats in the West Australian desert. She is also passionate about the arts, and creative director of Reclaim the Void: weaving country whole, which draws together Sufi, Indigenous and artistic threads in a collaborative act of apology to country (and its custodians) that has been impacted by mining.

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  Karima Hilary Parkinson
  

  Karima Hilary Parkinson

  Karima Hilary Parkinson has been blessed to live next to a nature reserve and near the ocean in Newcastle on the east coast of the vast land of Australia. She engages in the music of life in many different ways including being active in the Inayatiyya Sufi community which is very spread out across the continent, as well as being happily involved with family near and far which includes grandchildren ranging in age from seven months to 30 years.

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  Ishi Nili
  

  Ishi Nili

  Ishi Nili was born in Mexico. She studied psychology, dance therapy, body psychology, deep tissue massage in Mexico, Argentina, and California. In India she studied Khatak Dance and Classical Music. She has also studied Waldorf pedagogy and Anthroposophy and is the mother of 4 children. As a doula she has accompanied many women in preparation for natural conscious births. Together with her husband, Cofe Inayat, she has guided circles of sound and healing through music. For her, music and dance are sacred arts that allow us to connect with The One. She is currently studying in the Inayatiyya Leadership Program with the aim of opening an Inayatiyya center in Mexico.

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  Musharaff Gregory Finucane
  

  Musharaff Gregory Finucane

  Musharaff Gregory Finucane is a medical practitioner and recent Suluk graduate who has been on the path for about fifteen years. Having played various forms of music throughout his life from around the age of 8, including in brass bands, New Zealand garage bands and Irish music, Musharaff has been a student of Persian classical music for about 30 years, initially with the santur but primarily with the Iranian tar, a 6 string instrument capable of great delicacy. He is interested in the way music can contribute to a sense of expanded consciousness.

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  Ashoka Robert Johnson
  

  Ashoka Robert Johnson

  Ashoka Robert Johnson has had an international career as a symphonic musician holding titled positions in the Chicago Lyric Opera Orchestra and Grant Park Orchestra, Orchestra Ciutat de Barcelona, La Orquesta Filarmonica de Santiago (Chile) and the Singapore Symphony. He is a Representative, Healing Conductor and Retreat Guide in the Inayatiyya and has served as a Mentor for Suluk Academy.

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  Mahbud Len Seligman
  

  Mahbud Len Seligman

  Mahbud Len Seligman is inspired by Rumi, John Lennon, and the world music fusion of Ry Cooder and his music radiates joy! Len is an award-winning singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, a Cherag in the Inayatiyya, and a Board member of the Oregon Interfaith Hub. With over 70,000 views on YouTube and Facebook, his awards include: First Place in the Great American Song Contest, 2nd Grand Prize in the Dallas Songwriting Contest, and Finalist in the UK, Mid-Atlantic, Songs for Social Change, and Positive Music Songwriting Contests. His last album, “Our Turn Now,” rose to #4 on the Folk Alliance DJ chart. Roots Music Report said, “With a message of peace and love, Len Seligman’s ‘Our Turn Now’ will blow away your blues and bring you to a more hopeful place in the world.” His music is available on all major streaming platforms. www.lenseligman.com.

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  Mahbano Genevieve Scase
  

  Mahbano Genevieve Scase

  Mahbano Genevieve Scase is a musician of the heart living in Poneke Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand. After two decades of immersion in the Dances of Universal Peace she took initiation in the Inayatiyya. She currently holds the concentration for the Music Activity in Aotearoa and sits on their Message Council. She is a Representative and Guide in the Inner School, and a Shafayat in the Healing Activity. She has worked as a Homeopath for 20 years with a particular interest in gemstones and more recently trained as a psychodynamic Psychotherapist. She has a deep interest in the awakening capacity inherent in the vibrations resounding through the kingdoms of the natural world and the sound code of the Divine names.

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  Alain Valodze
  

  Alain Valodze

  Alain Valodze is a guitarist and composer drawing influences from Flamenco, Brazilian, Classical, Jazz, Indian and Latin styles, creating a hauntingly beautiful New Age and contemporary sound. Some past performances include the Adelaide International Guitar Festival, Womadelaide, Spiegeltent and other Adelaide and Melbourne fringe venues, and Australian performances of Astor Piazolla’s “Maria de Buenos Aries” opera. He is a Founding member of the Caliente Guitar Trio, in addition to a long list of awards including television and film. He leads his own world music ensemble “Chandrikaya” – a unique blend of traditional instruments with live looping and samples. A recent recorded commission was used as a listening aid for women who experience high nausea levels while undertaking chemotherapy. Alain was also part of the 2019 “resonance” program for the Adelaide guitar festival, a touring program outreaching to regional health and community facilities. At all times the music must remain beautiful… www.alainvalodze.com

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  LatifaNoor Elizabeth Anderson
  

  LatifaNoor Elizabeth Anderson

  LatifaNoor Elizabeth Anderson is a graduate of the Na Koja Abad Global Suluk Academy class, Vice President of the Music Activity for Oceania and the Americas, a Representative in the Inner School, Musical Representative, spiritual guide, retreat guide, and center leader for the Light of Harmony Center, Inayatiyya of Dobbs Ferry. She is also a cellist and vocalist; her Indian raga studies inspired the CD LatifaNoor, a synthesis of Raga and Western classical music for cello, voice, and tampura. As a cellist she has toured China, Japan, Mexico, Italy, England, Germany, Finland, Australia, Israel, India, and the US with the Meliora and Cassatt String Quartets and with the New York City Opera. She has recorded for Telarc, Nonesuch, and RCA and her next recordings will feature sacred vocal music for retreat.
  When not traveling for concerts or leading alchemical singing retreats, LatifaNoor loves walking in nature with her basset hound Ruby, cooking for family and friends, and knitting socks.

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  Gayan Macher
  

  Gayan Macher

  Gayan Macher is a companion and guide to those who are called to the courageous path of love. He has practiced and taught the universal Sufism of Hazrat Inayat Khan his entire adult life. In addition, he has studied Buddhist practice, the Diamond Approach, and psychology, where he explored emerging understandings of the formation of the ego. Gayan leads group retreats and has guided scores of individual students. He collaborated with Pir Zia Inayat Khan in designing Suluk Academy, and taught at Suluk for eight years. Along with Taj Inayat he created Sufi Retreats, and then New Rain, which became laboratories for the process of awakening and spiritual maturation. Gayan also has a 40-year career as a consultant to executives of organizations, having worked with numerous Fortune 500 companies as well as non-profits of all sizes. Among Gayan’s great loves is music. He plays guitar, and as a singer-song writer has recorded two CDs of original songs.

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  Amir O’Loughlin
  

  Amir O’Loughlin

  Amir O’Loughlin has been a Representative and Guide in the The Inayatiyya for over 40 years. He is also a Siraj of the Universal Worship, and a Representative in the Music Activity. For many years, Amir was Canada’s National Representative for The Inayatiyya and served on its Board. Amir is a musician and recording artist whose albums “Merhaba” and “Opener of Wings” (Songs of Rumi) have garnered much praise in both North America and Europe. He was the founder & conductor of The Universal Gospel Choir, and has led hundreds of spiritual music events including the monthly “Universal Kirtan,” an interfaith approach to group chanting and song. In his professional life, Amir is a Psychotherapist.

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  Sitara Mitten-Lewis
  

  Sitara Mitten-Lewis

  Sitara Mitten-Lewis founded the first Sufi Order center in Sydney, Australia in the 1990’s and served as Regional Representative for Australia until 2010. As a Senior Teacher, she also serves as a Shafayat in the Healing Activity and a Mentor in the Dances of Universal Peace. She coordinated the Inayati Order Leaders Training Committee from 2010-15 and helped develop the training module on Sacred Sound. She guides murids and offers retreats and workshops on meditation, music and movement in the US, Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.

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  Sarmad Michael Harrison
  

  Sarmad Michael Harrison

  Sarmad Michael Harrison is a composer and pianist who forges a new approach to composition by blending classical music traditions of Europe and North India, and by utilizing just intonation (the ancient system of tuning based on pure harmonic proportions). He is a disciple of Pandit Pran Nath, Terry Riley, La Monte Young, and Ustad Mashkoor Ali Khan. Harrison received his Masters in Composition at the Manhattan School of Music and is the recipient of Guggenheim and NYFA Artist Fellowships. His music has been commissioned and recorded by leading performers including Grammy-winning vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth, Alarm Will Sound, and Cello Octet Amsterdam. Revelation, his critically acclaimed work for piano in his own tuning system, was selected among the Best Classical Recordings of the Year by The New York Times and Boston Globe. Harrison seeks expressions of universality via the physics of sound – music that brings one into a state of concentrated listening as a meditative and even mind-altering experience. His recent album Seven Sacred Names is based on the Sufi teachings of the Seven Leading Names. Harrison has been an initiate in the Inayatiyya since 1977.

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  Mariam Mary Neil
  

  Mariam Mary Neil

  Mariam Mary Neil was Initiated by Pir Zia in 2016 and given the name Mariam by him.
  She is currently engaged with the online Suluk program. Within the Inayatiyya, she is a Coordinator, Cherag, and Healing Conductor. Mariam is involved with the Inner School, Healing Activity, Ziraat, Dances of Universal Peace, and the fledgling Music Activity in Australia. She is the mother of four and a grandmother of four, as well. She lives alone in close proximity to some Aussie bush. Her interests include music, gardening, poetry, and walking in nature.

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  HuDost
  

  HuDost

  HuDost, an Electric-Folk, Americana, Global-Groove ensemble, performs with refined wildness and has a new album that reached #4 in the Canadian National Folk/Roots/Blues Chart for March, 2022 and #9 in the US Folk Radio Charts for January, 2022. HuDost’s last album received rave reviews and as an independent release reached #24 in the BILLBOARD SALES CHARTS for Folk/Americana and winning The Independent Music Award for Social Action Song. In 2020 they received two of the “Best of Nashville’ awards. They have been fortunate to have incredible performance opportunities throughout the years and have toured internationally
  since 2006 collaborating with wild, astonishing, and respected artists, musicians, dancers, and activists. HuDost are committed advocates/activists for ONE (non-profit organization).

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  Jamia Haqq
  

  Jamia Haqq

  Jamia Haqq (Eila Paul) of Tainui descent has been walking a spiritual path all her life. Introduced to the Inayatiyya in 1997 she was soon initiated by the late Murshida Halima McEwan at the Sharda Centre, Aotearoa/New Zealand. Through her Maori heritage, having a strong connection with nature drew her to the Inayatiyya’s annual Summer Camp in Switzerland in 2002, where she was initiated into Ziraat by Pir Zia. In the last 15 years she has been a trustee, and at times custodian and kaitiaki/guardian, of the Sharda Centre, caring for the beautiful natural native forest, stream and visitors with an outward expression of her inner path.

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  Jamila Cranston-Buckley
  

  Jamila Cranston-Buckley

  Jamila Cranston-Buckley is a student of life. She has worked in the fields of Well Being for 40 years. A practitioner of Oriental Healing, Herbal Medicine and Acupuncture, Jamila continues to deepen in understanding the Five Elements as they manifest through every aspect of life. She treasures the philosophy of Wholeness and Interdependence of living systems found in approaches such as Sufi teachings, Oriental Medicine and ‘Perma-Dynamics’. Her passions are gardening, exploring wellbeing through movement, eating well, being in community, growing communication skills, cultivating compassion and consciously working with all states of mind. Her focus is tuning and polishing her Heart-Being, to listen more fully and deeply to self, others and life. Jamila is the Inayatiyya’s National Representative for New Zealand and holds the work of the ‘Inner School’. She guides individual and group retreats to tend heart, soul, unfold unique gifts and purpose of life.

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  Nizam un Nisa Ayeda Husain
  

  Nizam un Nisa Ayeda Husain

  Nizam un Nisa is a Shaykha, Cheraga, Guide, Representative and Facilitator of the Anjumani-Islam group in the Inayatiyya. A student of classical Chishti Sufism since 1988 and a devoted follower of the Inayatiyya since 2004, she has led Inayatiyya centers in Lahore, in Dubai and now in Oakville, Ontario where she lives. A journalist and editor by profession with an MA in Journalism/Near Eastern Studies from NYU, Nizam un Nisa is a graduate of the first European Suluk class, Knight of Purity, and mentor to the Naubahar Suluk class. She has led Sufi retreats, taught Sufi meditation to Buddhist monks in Tokyo and been invited to the UN as part of an international delegation of spiritual leaders. She is currently working on setting the Urdu poetry of Hazrat Inayat Khan to music.

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  Sara Tarana Jobin
  

  Sara Tarana Jobin

  Sara Tarana Jobin is the Inayatiyya’s Music Director and Emeritus Vice President of its Music Activity. Professionally, she has a long career as an opera conductor and continues to freelance professionally. As a student of Sufism since 2010, and graduate of Sulūk Academy, she is dedicated to reviving and sharing the musical legacy of Hazrat Inayat Khan with all who find a home in his teachings.