guitar player. In order to understand the nature of popular music he studied History and Cultural Anthropology. He also got a degree as Flamenco guitar player with specialization in Toque de Morón. After several travels to Latin America he introduced the Cuban Tres inside Flamenco and designed a new instrument: the TRES FLAMENCO.

1995 he founded his first band together with José Loreto: Caraoscura (Album: "Qué es lo que quieres de mi", produced by Kiko Veneno and Jo Dworniak). The band toured during two years in Spain and it´s still a iconic band for music nerds.

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Since 1996 he collaborates with Kiko Veneno, having recorded in all albums and toured "Punta Paloma", "Puro Veneno", "La Familia Pollo", "El hombre Invisible" and "Dice la gente".

 

Since 1998 he collaborates, producing of Martirios albums "He visto color", "Mucho Corazón", "25 años, En directo", "El aire que te rodea" and "De un mundo raro. Cantes por Chavela". He also started produced and playing guitar in Martirios musical live shows and others like "Locuras" (2004) with Susana Rinaldi and "Romance de Valentía" with  Miguel Poveda (2006).

 

2003 he formed the band Son de la Frontera, including for the first time the Cuban Tres in Flamenco in an homage work to Diego del Gastor. He produced both albums of the band for Nuevos Medios: "Son de la Frontera", (2004) and  "Cal" (2006). The band got international reputation, receiving several awards as Flamenco Hoy 2005 Best Instrumental Album,  BBC Radio World Music Awards as Best European Album 2008 and a Grammy nomination as Best Flamenco Album in 2007.  Son de la Frontera toured worldwide and played in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, La Habana, Miami, México DF, Montreal, Londres, Paris, Amsterdam, Roma, etc from 2003 to 2008.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2010 he collaborated in "Transversal" toghether with Pedro Javier González, Trilok Gurtu y Guillem Aguilar. The album was released in 2013.

 

2012 Raúl Rodriguez produced the second album Las Migas, "Nosotras somos Las Migas".

 

This year he played toghether with Martirio and Eugenia León in the last shows of Chavela Vargas "La Luna Grande" in México City and Madrid. He also started as Tres player with Santiago Auserón and his band Juan Perro & La Zarabanda.

 

He also recorded with Jackson Browne, Jorge Pardo, Guillermo McGill, Manuel Molina, Silvio y sus Diplomáticos, Luis Pastor, Ojos de Brujo, María Jiménez, Peret, Cathy Claret among many other artists.

 

He has played live with Enrique Morente, Compay Segundo, Chavela Vargas, Jackson Browne, Jorge Drexler, Javier Ruibal, Marta Valdés, Soledad Bravo, Susana Rinaldi, Miguel Poveda, Javier Barón, Mayte Martín, Luz Casal, Carlos Núñez, Trilok Gurtu, John Cale, David Lindley, Jerry González, Raimundo Amador, Chano Domínguez, Javier Colina, Pancho Amat y Juan el Camas among others.

 

 

His first cd-book "Razón de Son" ("AntropoMúsica creativa de los cantes de ida y vuelta, I", published in Book-CD format) got great feedback by audience and media. It was chosen among the best published albums in 2014 by musicians and also the media  (RockdeLux, Mondosonoro, Rolling Stone, Efeeme, El País, World Music Charts Europe, AireFlamenco, Betto Arcos, Diario Folk, DeFlamenco…).

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"Razón de Son" (Reason of Son) is a creative research project that investigates the intercultural origin of early flamenco music, a travel to the cultural crossover that occurred in the Afro-Caribbean colonies and the Andalusian ports of Seville and Cádiz between XVI and XIX century.

In order to offer a new scenic proposal  with new tunes Raúl Rodriguez (founder of Son de la Frontera) introduces a new instrument that he has called the TRES FLAMENCO, combining son and toque, which opens the possibilities of finding new tracks for a new language: SON FLAMENCO. Instrumentation: Tres Cubano, Percussion, Guitar and Bass.

 

During 2015 and 2016 Raúl Rodriguez toured “Razón de Son” in the main Spanish cities and also in important festivals like Womad Cáceres, La Mar de Músicas de Cartagena, Festival de la Luz de Boimorto, Folk Getxo BBK. Internationally Raúl Rodriguez played La notte della Taranta de Melpignano, Penang Word Music Festival de Malasia and  Town Hall Ny.

 

In 2016 Raúl Rodriguez and Jackson Browne presented in the Town Hall NY  "SONG y SON", a cultural exchange between American Sounds and Hispanic Rhythms.

 

Beside the concerts Raúl as Cultural Antropologist give conferences travelling to the roots of Flamenco and ties with the Caribbean Afro -Andalousian roots.

 

In 2017 he edits his second solo work, "La Raíz Eléctrica" ​​("AntropoMúsica creativa de los cantes de ida y vuelta, II", published in Book-CD format in September 2017 with FOL Música), receiving numerous positive reviews and positioning the album in most specialized lists of the best albums of 2017, highlighting the cataloging of "Best World Music Album" in the Mondo Sonoro magazine.

Parallel to the concerts, he continues with his anthropological research work and begins to develop a work as a lecturer, with the music conference "AntropoMúsica de Ida y Vuelta" in which, through sound examples, old recordings and documented explanations, he exposes the bonds of affinity between flamenco music and the sound traditions of the Afro-Andalusian Caribbean territory. "AntropoMúsica de Ida y Vuelta" has been programmed since 2015 in various places in Spain and the USA, adapting in each case to the different spaces and environments, such as those of the XLVII Meeting of Cante Jondo of La Puebla de Cazalla (Seville), or the Universities of Barcelona, ​​Cádiz, Sevilla or Riverside (Los Angeles, USA).