RAFAEL PAREJA IBAÑEZ
Rafael Pareja Ibanez “ Rafaelito “
BIO
He was born on 02 Nov.1972 in Lima / Peru, and from a very young age, he discovered his love for music. At the age of 12, he invented a drum kit with paint buckets on the roof of his house. At 14, he began to study the guitar at the AIDEM School in Lima. He participated as a guitarist in countless events both at school and in his neighborhoods of San German in SMP and the UV of Rimac in Lima, Peru, already at the age of 16, forming his first band and his first project.
At age 20, he arrived in Germany, residing in Munich, where he quickly contacted musicians from the scene, from all over Latin America and the Caribbean, thus nourishing himself with the Afro-Caribbean musical roots. He was quickly invited to countless projects, such as the Se Formo orchestra of the Colombian pianist Mauricio Diaz, where he developed musically. In 1995, he founded El Sexteto “Melaza,” playing salsa, cumbia, cha cha cha, and bolero.
In 2004, Rafael founded the orchestra “Rafaelito y su Tumbao “, which remains the orchestra No. 1 of Salsa and Latin Music in Munich. In 2005, he was part of the group MADERA LIMPIA, a Cuban band that plays a mixture of traditional Cuban music with hip hop, reggae, funk, and jazz. That same year, Rafael is the band’s musical director for the well-known artist LOU BEGA (Mambo No. 5), “The Lunatics and presents his new production LIVE with the artist.
Since 2002, Rafael has been a member of the board of directors of Latino SV Munich (the Latin American Sports and Culture Club in the city of Munich) and organizes the “LA FIESTA LATINA” event, in which young talents and established artists of Latin American origin can show their art.
Rafael also works as a teacher, composer, and arranger. He is also the LATIN ARTS & MUSIC event agency manager based in Munich, Lima, and New Jersey, where he now resides and works in his own recording studio.
In 2015, he arrived in Havana, Cuba, to record in the studio of the great Manolito Simonet, accompanied by the musicians of Trabuco and Rafael on the Baby Bass. The song is titled “La Rumba la traigo yo.”
In February 2019, he published his first Musical work, an LP titled „Accelera„ featuring eight compositions and his own arrangements with artists such as Mario Mayito Rivera, Manolito Simonet, and Carlo Supo, among other excellent musicians on the scene in Lima, Peru.
In January 2020, she published her second album, „ELLA VA SOLA,„ a Maxi CD that contains a composition in her own handwriting bearing the same name as the CD as well as an arrangement also in her pen of the classic of Cuban music, „ BILONGO, „known in the Latin American musical world as„ LA NEGRA TOMASA.„
Since his stay in New York and New Jersey, Rafaelito has accompanied and shared the stage with salsa greats such as Jose Alberto El Canario, Charlie Aponte, Andy Montañez, Roberto Blades, Frankie Vasquez, Jerry Rivera, Jimmy Bosch Mauro Castillo, Mauro Mosquera, Primi Cruz as well as renowned Peruvian artists such as Los Hermanos Yaipen, Melcochita, and Josimar.
Rafaelito currently lives in New Jersey City and is setting up his own recording studio, where he will begin working on his third discography.
New Jersey, USA.
