Anne Schaefer

Anne was born into a family of musicians in small town Treaty 6 ancestral territories of the Cree, Blackfoot, Anishinaabe and Métis now known as Saskatchewan. Her musical lineage was formed in classical study and performance, ensemble singing and playing and songwriting and composition. Anne’s formal explorations have included many years with voice, violin, piano, guitar, hand drums and most recently the harp and ancient Lyre! Her love of music could not be contained to studying, writing and performing, and she has engaged in a 37 year legacy of music instruction and facilitation in order to inspire, share and support what she believes to be a birth right for every human. To support this intuitive musical approach, Anne has spent fifteen years studying with Celtic mystic, seer, healer and global spiritual teacher, Ger Lyons. These Ancient teachings in Core and Cellular Transformational healing have brought a profound and powerful Magic to all. Schaefer has taken her musical perspective touring through three continents and a myriad of contexts. From performances in cafes, concert halls and everything in between, to private instruction, choral ensembles and workshops to explore and experience the incredible diversity of musical creative expression. 

Anne believes that the very nature of sound is an energetic force that connects, inspires, celebrates and heals us and that our individual and collective lives are profoundly impacted as we embrace our inherent nature of musicality.
 
Anne respectfully acknowledges the unceded traditional, ancestral, territory of the W̱ SÁNEĆ and Lək̓̓ wəŋən/Songhees First Nations where she currently lives.
 
"Anne is a musical sprite: she knows how to make singing a magical experience that you can feel from the tips of your toes to the roots of your hair—joyful and freeing for everyone." — Cynthia Woodhouse

It goes without saying that Anne’s musical talent is brilliant and creative. What sets her apart is her incredible ability to quickly create a cohesive group of people who come from all walks of life, and whose spirits, motivations, and abilities may be very different. In the process, she draws out the very best in each individual. She believes in the music in all of us, looks for it, and finds it. Magical music is created. Souls are enriched. — Julie Sutherland
 
"The Collective is a profound musical and connective experience...inclusive, healing and joyous!! Anne Schaefer is a beautiful soul who generously shares her Divine musical talents, orchestrates harmony, radiates delight and inspires all those around her to connect with, and share their innate beauty, and to lift their voices together in wonderous song. I am grateful for every opportunity to be in her musical presence!” — Renata Shaw

Doug Galbraith

Doug Galbraith (Canada) began playing music at a very young age. He taught himself guitar and drums, formed groups in his teens, played in high school bands and eventually became a professional performer earning a nomination for Canada’s highest music award (Juno Award, 1994).

The sound of the Kora attracted him to Senegal where he began learning that instrument. He absorbed as much as he could from recordings and from West African musicians with whom he toured and lived. A second visit to Senegal inspired him more than ever and he slowly became proficient at playing the traditional repertoire.

After devoting his first 20 years of Kora learning to authentic West African music he decided to branch out and include original and fusion music on the instrument. This can be heard on his 2013 solo recording, Statement.

​Today he offers a mixture of traditional songs and contemporary original inventions, often blending the two seamlessly. His solo acoustic performances also include guitar songs from Canada, Brazil and Colombia which he sings in a few different languages. Under the name Doudou’s Devotional Dub he also offers electro-acoustic performances consisting of Kora, synthesizer, looping and sequenced electronic beats and atmospheres creating a more immersive and transcending experience for listeners.

Niel Golden

Niel Golden (www.nielgolden.com) is a talented percussionist specializing in the subtle yet powerful, paired, Indian hand drums called tabla. Niel is a disciple of the late tabla master, Pandit Sharda Sahai, the fifth-generation leader of the Benares style of playing. Over more than four decades, he has worked with traditional Indian classical musicians, orchestras, choirs and roots and blues artists such as Xavier Rudd and Harry Manx and his recordings have been nominated for a Juno and a Western Canadian Music Award.

For many years Niel was a member of the Middle Eastern ensemble The Sahar Ensemble, playing darbuka (doumbek) locally with many different belly dancers. Along with performing Indian Classical Music and Kirtan/Bhajan, Niel is a member of the Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra (VICO). He is also part of THREE RIVERS a world folk music ensemble with Mark Ferris and Doug Hensley who are both also members of VICO.

Doug Hensley

Trained as a classical guitarist at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Douglas Hensley also studied with a number of prominent lutenists and classical Persian masters. He has performed and/or recorded on various types of guitar and lute, as well as oud, setar, mandolin, etc. with such ensembles as the Continuum Consort, Anima Medieval Music Duo, Big Speck, Ensemble Laude, the Victoria Symphony and Pacific Opera Victoria, and is an on-going member of the Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra, the quartet Steluţa, the trio Three Rivers, and the classical Persian ensemble Daryâ. In May of 2022, his improvised banjo playing for a documentary about the work of his sister Jennifer Heller, Earth to Art: Basketmaker, was a Finalist in the Best Original Music Award at the Oregon International Documentary Film Festival. He has commissioned and premiered over 70 new works by composers from many different countries, and teaches privately and at the Victoria Conservatory of Music.

Dave Conway

Dave taught music and classroom subjects in elementary schools in Northern B.C. for more than twenty years before moving back to Victoria in 2014.  Zita and Dave were co-chairs of a refugee group from 2015 to 2018 that completed sponsorships for three families.  He plays bass with the band Seabreeze and guitar at St. Philip Anglican Church.

​Jordie Maaz and Habbous Deeb

​Jordie and Habbous are from Syria and arrived with their three children in 2016.  All three kids are now teenagers and doing very well in high school.  Like many professionals arriving in Canada, Jordie and Habbous were forced to change careers and now work in a group home and optometry office.  Victoria has been blessed by them bringing a wealth of experience performing traditional and popular Arabic music.  Jordie plays oud, keyboard and doumbek (hand drum) to accompany Habbous singing. 

Bobbie & Belly Dance

“Raks” is the Arabic word for dance. “Raks Sharqi” literally means “dance of the east” or “dance of the orient” and refers to what North Americans recognize or know as belly dance. “Raks Bobbie” means “Bobbie’s Dance.”

Based in Victoria, BC, Canada, Bobbie is passionate about Middle Eastern Belly Dance and has been studying this beautiful and expressive art form for 22 years.  Under the tutelage of her first teacher she began performing as a soloist and troupe member, choreographing and teaching.  She then studied and danced for two years with Nath Keo, an internationally celebrated artist and dancer.

In 2008 she formed Bashirah Middle Eastern Dance Company and opened Bashirah Middle Eastern Dance Studio in September 2009.