Raül Refree: A Beginner's Guide

What do Spanish megastar Rosalía, ex-Sonic Youth guitarist Lee Ranaldo, Occitan folk duo Cocanha, UK experimentalist Richard Youngs and Puerto Rican pop icon Ricky Martin have in common? They have all worked with Raül Refree, a Catalan punk turned multi-instrumentalist and producer.

When I call Refree, he is – unsurprisingly – at work in his Barcelona studio, on a film soundtrack this time. More surprising is the fact that, despite his productivity and endless collaborations, he doesn’t consider himself a producer, but rather a musician. “If I decide to produce a record, it’s because I’m tempted by the idea of working with someone I really admire,” he says. He immediately adds that his work as a producer allows him to be in contact with music almost constantly. “That’s what I need,” he laughs.

As a child, Refree learned classical music, but quickly discovered that he wasn’t able “to reproduce a score exactly as I was asked to do. What was easy and natural for me was to create something new out of this score,” he admits. During his teenage years, he became interested in alternative music, particularly punk, discovering the pleasure of “playing music just for the sake of it. This kind of energy is still with me; it made me who I am,” Refree says.

Initially, he made his name in Barcelona’s underground scene, first as a journalist and radio host, before joining several DIY bands. At the same time, he was developing an interest in traditional music, which he was hearing in his family home. After a string of well-received, but commercially unsuccessful solo records in the early 2000s, which saw him hint at his future path of mixing traditional, experimental and pop, Refree was approached by Catalan singer-songwriter Roger Mas to produce his 2006 album, Mística Domèstica. It was Refree’s first work with a nationally renowned musician.

Over the next few years, Refree garnered a reputation as a producer who respects and modernises tradition, becoming a go-to choice for open-minded musicians from folk backgrounds. He worked with Sílvia Pérez Cruz, Rocío Márquez, and produced and played on Los Ángeles, Rosalía’s 2017 debut album. In 2020, he worked on a collaboration between flamenco singer Diego el Cigala and pop singer Ricky Martin, which was part of a Latin Grammy-winning EP. “My aim is not to break the rules only for the sake of breaking them. I don’t want to break with the past or the tradition. My work is not a rupture. I don’t feel like I’m breaking laws. I just play what I feel at the moment,” he explains. A perfect example of this approach is 2020’s LINA_Raül Refree, where Refree and Lina, an accomplished fadista, perform Amália Rodrigues’ classics, substituting the originals’ guitar focus with an array of pianos and synthesizers. “Lina’s an extraordinary singer; she knows Portuguese fado and tradition very, very well. All her knowledge gave me the space to try things out, because fado was already there. It was in her voice,” says Refree.

What Refree does as a producer is listen; he’s in constant dialogue with his musical partners. “I trusted Raül’s vision totally. Working with him gives me the freedom to sing at ease, the space I require, not worrying about the traditional elements of fado”, Lina told Bandcamp Daily shortly after LINA_Raül Refree was released. Earlier this year, he released San Paolo di Galatina, a collaboration with Maria Mazzotta, a southern Italian singer from Salento and an ex-member of Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino. Mazzotta says that Refree always consulted her on his arrangements. “What he did insist on was my way of singing. He wanted to bring up the side of my voice I thought wasn’t pretty; it was raw, but in the end, it was him who was right”, she says. This attentiveness is one reason why Refree prefers working in duos. It allows him to focus entirely on one person, rather than balancing the expectations of every group member.

For Refree, music is something organic, something emotional rather than intellectual. “I think it was Eduardo Chillida, a Spanish sculptor, who said that to make art is to do something that you don’t know how to do. I think it’s a great definition of art”, he says. And yet, there is inevitably a learning process. Prior to each of his projects involving traditional music, Refree studies the style. Before recording Manual de Cortejo with Rodrigo Cuevas or San Paolo di Galatina with Maria Mazzotta, he went to Asturias and Salento, respectively, to experience music in its natural environment. “He came to Salento around Easter, during the Holy Week. We listened to different songs, we spent three days listening to music,” recalls Mazzotta.

While Refree works with musicians in the widely different realms of traditional, pop and alternative, he maintains that his approach rarely changes. “I feared there would be a difference, but I realised that, for me, everything was the same. It was all part of the same thing that is music. I don’t feel this separation, these lines between genres and styles,” he says. His refusal to see the limits of genre is an approach that has made him a sought-after name. Take, for example, Occitan folk duo Cocanha, who were drawn to him after hearing his work with Rosalía. “We fell in love with Los Ángeles, how he [Refree] treated voice and string instruments. We were looking for some change, and we contacted him directly”, recalls Cocanha’s Caroline Dufau. Refree produced their second album, Puput. “It was a precise work,” says Dufau. “He was looking for the right sound and timbre of tambourin à cordes [string drums]”. The effect was so satisfying, they worked with him again on their latest album, Flame Folclòre.

Refree’s role in each project changes – at times, he sticks strictly to a production role; for others, he becomes a collaborative partner. Take, for example, Rodrigo Cuevas’ Manual de Cortejo, where Refree is credited as a main collaborator. “Rodrigo [Cuevas] felt like we were more of a duo. It was his decision,” says Refree. The same happened with US guitarist Lee Ranaldo on his 2020 Names of North End Women album; Ranaldo has been quoted as saying the double-billing gave them greater freedom to experiment.

In the case of 2025 album Cru+es, made with rule-breaking Spanish flamenco artist Niño de Elche, Refree is given first billing. Again, it was another project he was initially involved with as a producer, but his involvement grew into a creative collaboration. “Our relationship has lasted for eight years now,” says Refree about his work with Niño de Elche. “I produced some of his records, and we became very good friends. We decided to finally record our concert programme, but in the end, it turned out to be a completely different record. I’m used to being in second place, but he insisted, saying it was my project, and he didn’t like the idea of putting the voice always at the front,” he says modestly.

Between the many collaborations and his soundtrack work, Refree still finds time to work on his own material. His last solo record, el espacio entre (2023), is a showcase for his versatility and imagination. It’s both spacey and dense, traditional and avant-garde, forming a universe where all his projects meet. “I’m learning a lot with every record, and I use this knowledge in my other records. So, you can say that everything I do is connected,” says Refree.