A Bunch of Forest Songs

Rafael Pacha is a Spanish multi-instrumentalist and the main composer of the Prog/Folk group The Guildmaster. He is also a long time collaborator for Progressive Rock artists and groups such as Last Knight, Samurai of Prog and Inner Prospekt. Rafael has been a fundamental element in Kimmo Pörsti‘s solo albums and in 2022, Seacrest Oy released a joint ”solo-album” by Rafael and Kimmo, ”Views from the Inner World”, which has been warmly received.

Rafael Pacha‘s roots are deeply in Folk music. After playing in the groups San Barandán and La Banda del Lago he started his solo career in the early 90‘s. He has recorded over 10 albums as well as a couple soundtracks. Together with Manoel Macía he has released 7 albums. He was also part of the Circle Project, which released the album Bestiario, with other Spanish musicians from the progressive environment.
As only one of Rafael‘s solo albums has been released on physical CD, the idea occurred to make a selection of his recordings from 1999 – 2022 available on a CD. After careful consideration 12 songs were chosen – and also one that has never been released. Although being loyal to the original versions, for this album the songs have been carefully reworked and remixed. At Rafael‘s request, Kimmo Pörsti played drums on all the songs. Rafael has made a selection of songs that draw from several European traditions, but whose arrangements have a touch of progressivism. That‘s why Rafael‘s great music easily appeals to fans of both Prog Rock and Folk Rock.

Guests: Carlos Aragon: Uilleann Pipe, Juan Arriola: violin, Alessandro di Benedetti: keyboards,
Marco Bernard: Shuker Bass, Juan Miguel López: whistles and pipes, Jose Manuel Milan: Violin,
Rafael Moreno: Irish traverse flute

CD comes in 6-panel digisleeve with 16-page booklet