'Out beyond the ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there'!
Australian born solo guitarist, Rafael Arden, began playing guitar at the age of eight and has now been studying and playing music for over 40 years. His professional career began at the age of 12, taking Melbourne audiences by storm, then at 16 he was employed as the principle guitar teacher at the Yamaha School of Music, before becoming a highly sought after session musician, due to his extraordinary ability to read and interpret music.
Rafael became a soloist at the age of 19 when he was accepted into the Conservatorium of Music to pursue his interests in classical music. It was here that he discovered the music of the Renaissance and Baroque eras and devoted his time to mastering the lute. While at the Conservatorium Rafael studied music from the 10th to the 20th centuries, including all styles of contemporary music from the 1920s to today, providing him with a deep knowledge and understanding of music.
Rafael has devoted his life to the study of music and after extensive experience in the music industry working as, a session musician, teacher, producer and songwriter, he is now using this knowledge and experience to change how music is viewed and used in the world today.
It was during the Renaissance, the most enlightened period in history, that music was used to tune into God and was therefore considered Divine in nature and the elite musicians of the day were seen as having Divine powers. It was said that while a musician performed here on Earth, one was also playing in Heaven, and Divine energy was channelled through both for the audience to receive. Thus people went to concerts to receive Divine energy and become enlightened. Such was the power of the music of the past.
Unfortunately, the music of today has been ‘dumbed down’ and altered. Our worship of musicians today is unwarranted and highly distorted. The music we hear nowadays is not only tuned to a different frequency to that of the Renaissance, and no longer providing enlightenment, harmony and healing, but for the most part consists of computer generated loops, thus eliminating the need for skilled musicians entirely!
Rafael is now exploring music on a much deeper level, looking at music as a healing tool to change people’s energy, frequency and vibration. In recent years Rafael began to explore the work of new composers, which led to his discovery of French-Canadian composer Guy Bergeron, and the recording of Rafael’s album Blue Dreams, tuned to 528Hz, which is known as the ‘healing frequency’. He has also returned to his great love of playing Bach!
Johann Sebastian Bach is considered the greatest musical genius this planet has ever seen. Held in the highest esteem by musical greats such as Beethoven and Mozart, Bach took music to new heights, the likes of which the world had never heard before. Rafael is now taking his lifetime of musical training to breathe new life into Bach’s music, by recording it on the electric guitar! Some would view this as utter blasphemy, others as simply brave! However, with deep reverence Rafael is using his knowledge of the Baroque period, traditional lute techniques, and his experience as a modern day guitarist, to explore new sounds and interpretations of Bach’s cello and lute suites, his various dances, and violin partitas. While it may be a long time in the making, there is indeed an album on the way, for Bach of course, simply can’t be rushed!