Events & Tributes

Since Raphael unexpected departure, in April2017,

RaphArt,

his friendship network,

has organised a series of events, published videos, recordings, booklets…in tribute to Rapha.

Here they are!

UPCOMING EVENTS

Rapha Tribute 2025

Dear Friends,

Since 2018, in April, we have been organising, every year, a musical Tribute for Raphaël here in Bristol.

This year, 2025, the 8th edition of the Rapha Tribute will be held in two different locations:

In Bristol, at The Plough, Easton, on the 17th of April, at 9:30 pm, till late
In Patti, Villa Pisani, on the 3rd of May, at 7:30 pm, till late.

In Bristol, we will celebrate Rapha memory by linking up the tribute concert to the last surviving legacy of the Immigrant Swing musical journey: the "Immigrant Jamms" that Mao organises every 3rd Thursday of the month at The Plough in Easton.

The next one, on the 17th of April, will be dedicated to Rapha. It will include a “jazzy” session, where we would like to have the musicians from the Immigrant Swing Family Band who are still in Bristol: Mao, Helen, Annalise, Tom, Mattia, Switch, as well as friends and fellow musicians who wish to join us. Mao will get in touch with you very soon.

In Patti, the Rapha Memorial will be organised in collaboration with UMANA’s Raphaël Dufresne Cultural Centre, inaugurated one year ago.

An experiential performance with some Rapha’s poetry readings by a local artist, Antonella Ingrassia, will open the event. The first part of the Concert will celebrate Raphaël’s involvement in Gypsy Jazz with two quartets, the “London Django Collective” and “Le Roi Manouche”, from Messina. After the respective performances, they will come together in a big jam session that will include local talented young musicians.

In the second part, the trio of drummer and composer Francesco Cusa, a master of Sicilian jazz, acclaimed also by national and international critics, will offer us original music, with his notes ‘sprung from the ineluctable’ and his sound architectures elaborated from the ‘creative spark of the instant’.

You all are welcome.

Maria & Bernard

Concerto Tributo 2025 in memoria di Raphaël

Patti, Villa Pisani, Sabato 3 maggio, 19:30 fino a tardi

L’associazione Culturale Umana organizza a Patti, sabato 3 maggio 2025, un Concerto Tributo in memoria del musicista Raphaël Dufresne, con il patrocinio del Comune di Patti che metterà a disposizione per l’evento il giardino di Villa Pisani.
L’evento si svolgerà in tre tempi.
Aprirà la serata una performance di Antonella Ingrassia, che leggerà alcune poesie e testi di Raphaël, sostenuta da improvvisazioni musicali.
La prima parte del concerto renderà omaggio al Jazz Manouche, una delle passioni di Raphaël, ed inizierà con il quartetto “Le Roi Manouche” di Messina, per poi proseguire con i virtuosi inglesi del “London Django Collective” ed infine culminare in una jam session alla quale parteciperanno alcuni giovani talenti locali, attorniati da tutti i musicisti presenti.
A conclusione della serata, il batterista e compositore Francesco Cusa, un maestro del jazz siciliano, acclamato anche dalla critica nazionale ed internazionale, con il suo gruppo Francesco Cusa Quest, ci offrirà musiche originali, con le sue note “scaturite dall’ineluttabile” e le sue architetture sonore elaborate a partire dalla “scintilla creativa dell’istante”.
Un rinfresco sarà servito durante l’evento.