Words
Songs & Poetry
pollen - CD booklet
Raphaël left us many a rich diversity of recordings.
In this compilation he plays with his mates from Immigrant Swing (Annelise Lam, Mattia Collu, Federico Leonori, Tom Parry), with some of his fellow jammers (Jai Singh, Alex Taylor), with his friend Pasquale Votino. Sometimes he plays alone.
He sings with many different voices, in different languages, in different styles.
But for sure he always imprints his own mark on every song or music he plays or sings. A patient research shows that the texts which he has chosen convey very strong messages of different kind: poetic, political, allegorical, or simply peaceful. The texts and the music originate from richly diversified sources.
Raphaël was not just interested in music, he wanted to change the world at his own level, unmask the wrong, stand up for the right, find out the essence of what we are living for. He was a great listener, he would patiently try and merge opposite positions, and above all he would very gently and patiently disseminate what he felt was right....like pollen in the wind.
Soul landscape
Raphaël has left us many notebooks, in which he would put his ideas, develop his thoughts, conceptualize observations or teachings he had received.
In this selection his friends might remind old discussions, recognize some of his favourite themes, spot some part of their own....
and enjoy his company once again.
Raphael dreams
At the age of 5 years, in 1995, Raphaël started an intense dreaming activity and he took the habit, in the morning, to share his dreams with his father, Bernard, who noted them down for him. The dreams have been illustrated by the artist Manuela Martines for the Tribute to Rapha Exhibition 2018.
father christmas does not exist
In 1998 Raphael wrote this story as a present to his parents for Christmas. Here he depicts a children's vision of the world as opposed to an adult’s one and in the name of sincerity, he challenges the conventions and good manners. He unmasks appearances, which hide the truth. On Christmas Eve young Raphael, the iconoclast, could not offer a better trophy to his parents than his demystification of Santa Claus!
immigrant swing LYrics booklet
The Booklet, distributed during the Tribute event on the 11th of April 2018, includes the following tunes with lyrics and chords :
Granted; La Mauvaise Reputation; Old Number 7; The Daze; Amsterdam; Wise Up; Free; Tides; Folstom Prison Blues; Bella Ciao; Dona Irene; Egyptian Ella; Bonded; Douce Ambiance; Moscow Drug Club.
crisis (booklet)
The booklet describes the genesis of the tunes included in the IMMIGRANT SWING FAMILY new Studio recording EP, CRISIS.
It contains the Lyrics and explanations for each of the following tunes :
Heavens Gates Wait
Yeyo
Mo Tempo
Speak Gringo
friends’ tribute - RAPHA MEMORIAL 2023
Poetry and LYRICS : texts written by AND FOR Rapha The chosen Rapha poetry texts and the songs written for him have been presented during the first part of the TRIBUTE TO RAPHA 2023.
TEXTS BY Raphaël Dufresne, read by : Richard Jones, Mao Bazurto and Helen Jenner
Songs by Tom Parry, Tim Robertson
MUSIC by IMMIGRANT SWING FAMILY
All the original English texts have been translated in French and Italian.
LE PRINCE DE MOT TORDU
Rapha wrote this story in French
when he was a child, inspired by a famous French comic book.
Here it is in its original version (difficult to translate), with
illustrations chosen from Bristol grafiti and beyond.