His name is Rafael Ayala Silva, also known as Rafasemilla. A Colombian London based percussionist that specializes in Latin American percussion with special emphasis in Afro-Colombian music. Arrived to London as a refugee from Colombia 26 years ago. Since coming to the UK, he has made it his artistic endeavour to integrate his culture and musical heritage to the melting pot of London’s diverse and thriving music scene. He is also an educator, with extensive experience teaching drumming and dance. Within his new found community, As a young leader of his community he quickly realised that his culture e.g dance and music could play a vital role for the healthy integration of the young people into British society.
The Director
““It felt good to be able to share our music and dance with the wider community and balance the negative image that refugee communities have in the UK. Thus, teaching becomes a tool to build a healthy community and empower our young people”.”
After graduating in humanities and philosophy from Middlesex University in 200, he joined the Colombian Refugee Association (CORAS) as employment adviser and youth worker.At CORAS he created the arts group Identities.He run educational activities teaching dance and drumming to the children and young people as well history and also organising visits to museums and the theatre. All these activities aimed at helping immigrant young people to integrate and find their place in London. With this initiative we participated in small festival in our Local community in Lambeth.
As I progressed into my community and art work I joined the arts collective Nueva Generacion from 2006 to 2009.
Laura Villegas, Colombian Human Rights defender , immigration adviser, painter, feminist and community leader working for Indoamerican Refugee and Migration Organisation (IRMO). Founded Nueva Generacion, initially created in 1997 based in Praxis to offer a space for young Latin American refugees and asylum seekers to express themselves and cope with their new lives in the UK.
We used community arts as our tool of empowerment for young people . In this project he was workshop leader teaching drumming and dance every Thursday at the VGCC community centre in Vauxhall (www.vgcc.org.uk/).
Grupo PatakoNG (music group)
Our First Performance.
From the music workshops in Nueva Generacion the Grupo PatakoNG was born. It was the first Afro-Colombian music group he was part of (2008).
IRMO: 2006 to 2010: he joined IRMO (Indo American Refugee Association) as main project coordinator. Part of his job was to develop projects for the benefit of the Latin American community. He created the ‘Latin American Youth Forum’, a project funded by the Paul Hamlyn foundation. The main aim of this project was to open spaces for the Latin American young people to meet and learn about their history, culture, develop critical thinking and empower them through arts and educational projects.
Latin American Youth Forum participated at the Carnaval Del Pueblo 2010 hosting the first Youth stage at the Carnaval bringing together all the LAtin american music and dance groups of London.
In partnership with Unite the Union we run educational workshops on the weekends.
Our participation at the Carnival was historical as It was the first time in the history of the Carnaval that no violent incidents took place and this is thanks to our initiative to get rid of the Latin American Gangs in London to stop violence and use art to deal with differences. We feel very proud to have achieved that. This project was mainly Funded by the Unite Union educational branch. Unite the Union also partly funded our educational program.
With the Latin American Youth Forum we were invited to curate an event at the Tate Modern in 2009.
Drumming in solidarity with the Cleaners and workers
As part of the educational activities the young people of the LAFY took part on several demonstrations showing support for the workers in London specially the cleaners that were fighting for the London Living Wage.
Music For Life Youth arts Project
In the year 2010, He left IRMO and funded his own organisation called Music for Life. He received funding from the Lottery fund to run arts projects aimed at preserving, rescuing and promoting Latin American Culture.
With this project he created a multidisciplinary arts piece of dance and live music. This piece was presented at Rich Mix (2011). Due to the success of this project, the youth group members then formed a musical group called ‘Chambinbe’, in which he mentored and supported them in their musical development.
Chambinbe Music Group
Performace at the Passing Clouds
Working in Partnership with the Multicultural group.
The multicultural group was a grass-roots organization run by a community leader and her local community of young Latin AMericans in South London. We worked in partnership in the delivery of music workshops to participate at carnivals and parades.
We also performed at theQueen Elizabeth Hall with the South London Citizen campaign in the year 2010.
Folklombia
Folklombia was an experiment of Afro-Colombian drums and other instruments such as the trumpet and the bass and electric guitar.
Carnaval del pueblo 2011
This year Music For Life curated the carnival artists programme. Rafael also performed with the Band Cumbe.
Cumbé
I began my professional musical career with Cumbe (London based band) in 2010. Cumbé was a - Afro Latin Folklore in the UK, is the result of 5 talented musicians and dancers into Colombian folklore based in London.
https://www.facebook.com/cumbemusic/
Due to Cumbe’s success and popularity, we were asked to play at numerous festivals such as Latitude Festival 2013 playing on the BBC Radio Stage.
( https://soundcloud.com/s-nadja-enab/cumbe-at-latitude-festival),
Carnaval del Pueblo 2010, 2011 and 2012 ( carnaval del Pueblo was the biggest outdoor Latin American festival on Europe, taking place at Burgess Park.
We also participated at the Vamos Festival in the year 2013 (https://vamosfestival.com).
In 2013 , Cumbe was selected as ambassador of Colombian Culture by the Colombian Embassy in London And the group was invited to perform both in Ankara in Turkey and Sweden in Stockholm to promote Colombian culture as a strategy to of the Colombian government of stringent trading relations with this countries. In April 2012 With Cumbe I recorded The Single Electric Avenue with the “London’s Calling” project, this was a collection of 14 classic London songs interpreted by the cream of London's multicultural music scene.
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/jul/19/various-londons-calling-review
One Love Tribal Gathering
Welcome to our One Love Tribe Shamanic Gatherings! We bring you a celebration of Life, Sacred Connection to our beloved Pachamama, Wisdom Teachings from the Elders, Dancing, Drumming, Sound, Singing and Energy Work. These evenings bring these sacred teachings and ways to the world.
The One Love Tribe believe in full energy tribal devotional gatherings, honoring our shamanic ancestry, and connecting on much deeper levels to one another.
This is the space you can come to let go, heal, express love, be accepted for who you are unconditionally, learn tribal wisdom, connect as one tribe with your brothers and sisters, release negativity, and dance and sing for your love of Great Spirit and Pacha Mama!!!
We live in a beautiful time, a time where humanity is waking up to its connection to something eternal, and to our connection to mother earth. Everything is speaking to us, everything is singing its vibration across creation….and its time to express ours.
Whoever you are or wherever you come from on the planet, we all originate from shamanic cultures, so it is everyone's original history and our birthright to practice Shamanism and do what our ancestors have been doing since we incarnated here on this beautiful planet hundreds of thousands of years ago.
These tribal gatherings are a celebration of spirit, of life, of beingness, of the Earth, of beauty, of love. Come along and experience the sounds of the underground, with South American and African drummers and shamanic/spiritual singers.
This is a chance to welcome back our brothers and sisters from the family of Light; our tribe of many colours. As we step into the times where the ancient prophecies of the rainbow warriors who will take humanity and the Earth to a new consciousness is being fulfilled by You. You are the ones you’ve been waiting for, as we come together and raise the vibration for ourselves and all others. Aho!
The Tribal Trance Dance involves a dance where all wear blindfolds to fully let go into the dance without any self consciousness, allowing you to release your self into the dance and bring forth your spirit.
The Sacred Icaros and tribal songs will be sung to call the spiritual doctors to heal us and change our molecular and dna structure with the scared vibration of the sound.
At some events will be a sacred Water Ceremony, performed by Water Goddesses to bless our mother waters, and channel powerful healing light into this water to transform it into powerful medicine that we will drink to heal us.
There are regular guest speakers such as shaman coming over from South America wishing to share the wisdom of the ancients and their advice for this time. Check the events post for further updates on this.
Curawaka
In 2019 I was asked to join the internationally renowned group Curawaka as percusionist, participating in the recording of their first album “Called of The Wild”.
Curawaka (nternational quartet Curawaka describe their unique sound as "sacred · world music". · with the ancient, the open mind and searching heart with the spiritual. In 2020 we went on a tour across Europe performing in Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Holland, Denmark, Norway, Estonia and Finland
In recent years the British public have shown a growing interest in Colombian music and it’s culture. There seems to be a musical movement happening- artists, not just from Colombia but from the UK and across the globe, are delving into the rich musical culture of Colombia and we are seeing the results in the live music venues across the country, in British records and musical projects. Not only does this music bring awareness to the Colombian community (and the Latin community in general) within the UK but it also brings together a range of different people and backgrounds, this is what makes the UK the UK…kind of thing I believe that the bands I have worked with and are currently in, are a crucial part of that movement. I feel my earlier work with Cumbe, set the pathway for other bands such as London Gaita Social Club to follow. As an artist and educator, I believe that it is imperative to be active within the community. From 2005 to 2009 I was a Youth worker, working with the young Latin American community based in London.