We were lucky to catch up with Rafael Luna recently and have shared our conversation below.

Rafael, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

I feel like a meaningful project that I’ve worked on which was of utmost importance personally would have to be when I decided to release a solo flute album. This goes back to 2015 when I was about to complete my undergrad studies at CalArts. I wanted to create something as a form of culmination and perhaps future sense of purpose as a performer. I had several ideas but I stuck to “what can I do with just one instrument”. I ended up experimenting and exploring electro-acoustics and experimental practices within my instrument, the Flute. Though this wasn’t something new or different for me, the idea was to somehow expand new forms of art through sound. In theory flute is a very flexible instrument when it comes to manipulating its sound. Sound itself is also flexible not just in a “musical” setting. The creation of sound is infinite whether in an acoustic or electronic space. I wanted to create something bold that would awaken the perspective of what it is to make art and be a multifaceted human being. This whole project was improvised and it became something through a collaboration I did with a recording engineer who needed my expertise in improvisation. I remember there was something I did where I played a series of notes over and over. I asked for an extraction of this bit just with flute alone and was like this could be an interesting single. We messed with it a lot and one of my crazy suggestions was to have 40+ tracks of this stacked and then in some parts misaligned and added some post production, voila! that was it and I called it Space Flute lol. Creating a piece through the title of the track became my compositional process. I wanted it to be experimental and conceptual so I only really did sketches and graphic scores pertaining to my solo flute album project because a huge portion of it is exploring the art of improvisation. One of the tracks is the album title, called, “Vortex”. This was the first time I was putting myself out of the box of which a lot of flutists don’t tend to do (especially as a first album release). I could have just made another album of french flute music (nothing wrong with that btw, I love Ibert and Chaminade as much as any other flutist) but instead I felt like I could do that later or any time really. A lot of what I did in the past before this album was mostly classical and jazz amongst other things in between. To do this was to go beyond all that and was very personal which is why it is meaningful to me. Part of that is also the connection I had with the people that made this album happen was that they really understood what I was going for and why I was even doing this in the first place. I have Louis Stephens to thank for the recording and mixing process who was there for the whole artistic process who somehow was indeed a factor in me even pursuing this. This whole album was created by a lot of interesting factors that all came together. Clay Burton who did the mastering and Dulce Gonzalez who did the artwork. Phil O’Connor, one of my mentors who was helping me through this journey by understanding the music industry both technically and philosophically. I think when you have a set of people who are visionary that is when it becomes something meaningful. There are several layers of that but I can say it was a very special project that just came together and it worked out. Was it ambitious and kinda scary? yes, but I didn’t care about the what ifs but rather why not because I didn’t want to stop being who I am. This opened up my career to a lot more than just a performing musician and it was self-evident that I had created my own path from a social experience perspective. The whole basis of what I do is learning and growing. I had to continue exploring my creative thoughts to grow. In other words, do everything in your power to be who you are and embark in meaningful things that make you learn and grow.

Rafael, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’ve been around music and art since childhood. At age 5 I started playing guitar which initiated my whole creative journey. By age 10 I was already fully immersed in different art forms both musically and artistically. I also ended up learning piano and taking lessons. Became interested in visual arts which led me to being part of a drawing academy. I was interested in all things creative. Between 11-12 I took a break from being super involved in the arts gravitating towards sports but also being super inclined to science and technology. By then I was no longer a musician or artist of any kind. Originally I thought I would become a robotic engineer with an interest in biogenetics. Or so that is what I planned but life brought me back to the arts world. Between age 12-13 I started to learn about music at a more profound level. The Flute, my main musical instrument, is what has become part of my life and what I do as a musical artist.

After that I have been able to forge a creative path filled with many valuable experiences. Up until now I will say it’s been quite a journey that though hasn’t been easy I don’t regret ever being an artist. Lots of ups and certainly downs like in any path. However, my social experiences have led me to find my purpose in this life as a creative person. Education has been a vessel for me without knowledge I wouldn’t be where I am as a professional. Of course my vast experiences have helped shape who I am today. Constantly upgrading and rebooting whenever necessary or when life brings something new or different. For someone who was told they wouldn’t amount to anything or succeed in life I am certainly doing something plus paving the way for generations to come. I think it’s valuable to mention that not only do I come from an immigrant family but fulfilling the role as a 1st generation multiracial professional. Despite the difficulties I’ve managed to have a diverse set of skills and qualities which is outlined through my CV. I know a lot of people who may resonate with this because I want to be present and help others in my community to reach their goals and dreams. The important thing about what I do isn’t to be better than anyone else, it’s to be who I am so it can inspire others to have some kind of a focus or even mission in life. Whether they are like me or not I don’t want that to be the basis of my work but to be open to all human beings with different backgrounds, minds and walks of life.

It’s always interesting to be part of things like this where you get to really connect with people. I’ve done other interviews before but this one comes at an important chapter in my life where things have been brewing in the last few years or so since the pandemic, especially for the months to come and next few years as we move into the future. There is always the uncertainty of what to say or how to approach yourself as a creative person. Short bios, and long bios…things like that will always inform you. I prefer to not copy and paste all that here instead have some kind of interactivity with text. The cool thing about interviews like this is you get to form how you want to connect with people who might check out what you do. Personally, I’m just here to collaborate in a way that allows me to show who I am as a simple human being. A simple being who is also an independent artist pushing to reach out to the world in hopes that I can serve my purpose. To create a more well-rounded and conscious society through music and art. If you feel inclined to be part of my journey you can do so in many ways as you’ll find out later in this interview.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Being able to do the thing you love the most and of course being an advocate for creativity. No matter what I do I can inspire others at the same time be inspired as an educational process. One of the things I love about what I do is being able to mentor and teach. Community is a huge part of what I do because not only having a network is important but to maintain and expand it is quite a task while making a name for yourself. There is always something you can learn from someone. It doesn’t matter if someone has a lot of accolades or went to a top school, what matters is what you do with what you learn and know. It’s important to understand that we can live our purpose with a learning and growing process. It’s not easy to be an artist or creative but it is in fact rewarding if you’re passionate and self motivated.

Is there a mission driving your creative journey?

This is something that I am constantly changing and evolving. I feel there are a lot of goals I would like to achieve and things that I find very important personally. All of which is definitely allowing me to continue on this forever journey. Based on my holistic approach and multidisciplinary vision is to embrace what exists as well innovate to expand new art forms. I would like to educate and inspire on a more global aspect. Being able to reach more people who not only value Art but find change in society of great importance. There is something I developed in 2018 called “The Raf Collective” which is a platform for creative arts. A Multidisciplinary vision with a holistic approach. In an effort to instill a more conscious society there are interdisciplinary aspects connected towards what I call “Global Community Outreach”. Maybe 10 or 20 years from now this will be more developed as I continue my career but something I’ve mentioned before is doing what is meaningful to you in order to define your purpose.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://bio.site/rafaellunamusic