Born in Berlin, Rafa El Tachuela began teaching himself flamenco guitar at the age of thirteen.

Only two years later he made his first public appearances including, among others, his debut at the traditional “Quartier Latin” in Berlin.

His passion for flamenco led him to found the group Yamada, and for eight years he wrote all their compositions. Parallel to that he studied guitar, composition and analysis at the “Hochschule der Künste” in Berlin (University of the Arts) with H. J. Kaps among others.

Rafa intensively studied authentic traditional flamenco as well as modern flamenco styles while with the flamenco guitarist Diego Cortés in Barcelona and on his travels through Andalusia (Jerez de la Frontera, Seville, Cadiz etc.) and Madrid. Concurrently he taught Flamenco at the Leo-Borchardt Music School in Berlin for ten years. At the beginning of the 1990s he worked closely with the flamenco dancer and singer Manuel Moreno (Cordoba) and his ensemble.

Between 1994 and 1997 in Barcelona, London and Berlin Rafa wrote 48 flamenco compositions which have been recorded on four CDs and were released worldwide. These productions were recorded with musicians from the group Jaleo, such as Domingo Patricio (Madrid) and Joan Rectoret (Barcelona), as well as with Topo Gioia (Argentina), Thomy Jordi (Switzerland), Justo Perez (Cuba) and La Moraima (Berlin). On his second CD he collaborated with Hossam Ramzy and Pablo Cárcamo for the first time.

Rafa went on tours through Italy, Spain, Poland, Denmark and Germany as a soloist and also together with Diego Cortés, Manolo Moreno and many other artists. Rafa El Tachuela and his ensemble “La Pasión Flamenca”, consisting of eight musicians and dancers, have presented his compositions and arrangements on numerous stages.

The very fruitful collaboration with Hossam Ramzy as well as all the musicians contributing to his fifth CD production “Flamenco Arabe” (ARC, EUCD1785) in Giza/Cairo and London gave him a rich insight and access to Arabian music and culture and its people and con-tinues to have a deep influence on his compositions today.

One of the focal points in his compositions and guitar work is the exploration of the roots and origins of flamenco and their musical connections with the ancient and complex traditional Arabian culture.

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