Madrid-born singer/songwriter, composer and music producer Rafa Tena‘s career started behind the scenes as a lyricist and composer, who wrote a number of internationally recognized hits performed by other artists. Tena has also spent time working as a producer, a musical director for TV, and interestingly enough as an apprentice poet. Talk about a renaissance man, right?

Deeply enamored with Cuban music and culture, Tena has spent lengthy stints residing in Havana, where he collaborated with some of the country’s most prominent artists, before stepping out into the spotlight as a ember of Son DOS, with whom he has plans to release an album inspired by Cuba’s beloved son music.

If you were frequenting this site earlier this year, you might recall that I wrote about “Morcilla,” a collaboration with gypsy band Las Negris, a rowdy and raucous party starting tune, which saw the Madrid-born artist and Las Negris meshing elements of flamenco, tango and Cuban guagancó that featured mischievous lyrics referring morcilla (blood sausage), a beloved delicacy across the Spanish speaking world — with some regional differences in ingredients and how its prepared. The song also is peppered with references to Tena’s travels between Spain and Cuba, making a point of how much food

The Madrid-born artist’s latest single “Gitano soy,” is a collaboration with Sandra Carrasco, a highly sought-after flamenco artist, who has worked with musicians across jazz, classical and contemporary music. The song is an elegant and sophisticated blend of flamenco bolero and pop rock with a gorgeous string arrangement that feels simultaneously old world and contemporary, while rooted in earnest, seemingly lived-in lyricism and performances from Tena and Carrasco.

Directed by Lorena Flores, the accompanying video for “Gitano soy,” is a gorgeous and elegantly shot visual that feels a bit like a travel film-meets-pop music video.