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| Born in Madrid to
Argentinean parents,
Rafa started his musical career in New York in
the early
80's playing at some of the famous Greenwich
Village clubs
such as 'The Bitter End' and 'Folk City', cradle
of many
singer-songwriters of the 60's and 70's. In 1988
he moved
to London and settled there for the next nine
years. |
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| Whilst in the UK he released his
first
album 'A Petrified Forest' (Conspiracy Records
1990) after
playing regularly on London's thriving acoustic
scene.
The album got very favourable reviews, including
one by
the prestigious music magazine NME which landed
him support
gigs to artists such as Tori Amos, Melissa
Etheridge or
John Martyn. In 1994, he released his second
album 'Despite
Myself' on Mauve Records, the label of renowned
British
producer Mike Howlett, and in 1996 the third,
'Raging
Clowns' (i records). |
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| At the same time, Rafa began to
develop
a career as a screenwriter and later as a film
director.
His first screenplay 'The Man With Rain In His
Shoes'
(a.k.a 'If Only', a.k.a 'Twice Upon A
Yesterday') attracted
the attention of many producers and was finally
made into
a film in 1997 by Esicma/Mandarin/CLT-UFA and
directed
by Maria Ripoll starring Penélope Cruz, Douglas
Henshall and Lena Headey. The film was sold to
over 25
countries and got Rafa, among other awards, Best
Screenplay
at the 1998 Montreal Festival. The soundtrack to
the film
also features one of Rafa's tracks from his
first album. |
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| Rafa then made the leap to film
directing
and, after collaborating on the screenplay for
the film
'Aunque tú no lo sepas' directed by Juan Vicente
Córdoba, he directed two short films: 'El
Cumplido'
('The Compliment' 2000) starring Luis Tosar and
Paulina
Gálvez and 'Nada Que Perder' ('Nothing To Lose'
2002) starring Jorge Bosch and Pilar Punzano.
The latter
won a total of 40 awards in festivals all over
the world
including the Goya (Spanish Academy Award) for
Best Short
Film in 1992. He also wrote the screenplay for
'Hoy por
ti, mañana por mí', a short film directed
by Fran Torres which got more than 30 awards in
national
and international film festivals. |
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| 'Amor En Defensa Propia' ('Love In Self-Defence'), his first feature film as a director, produced by Mediapro and Universal and distributed by Universal, starring Gustavo Garzón and Ana Fernández, opened in cinemas in Spain in 2006 to critical acclaim, and was awarded best debut film in the Alcalá Film Festival. . |
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In 2009 his first book of short stories 'Pisos Vacíos' ('Empty Apartments') was published by Caballo de Troya (Random House Mondadori) |
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In 2011 he released a new album, “Sunken Ships” (Mondegreen Records), his first collection of songs after a 15 year break. |
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