Rodrigo Sanchez and Gabriela Quintero are two fast-fingered Mexicans with a… Read Full Bio ↴Rodrigo Sanchez and Gabriela Quintero are two fast-fingered Mexicans with a unique sound created on acoustic guitars. Their music is difficult to define, straddling both world and rock and often imbued with timeless Hispano ā classical influences. The fire in their music comes from their life-long passion for metal music. In spring 2006, āRodrigo y Gabriela,ā beat both the Arctic Monkeys AND Johnny Cash to number one in the Irish charts. Both the artists and their third selfātitled album have gone on to enjoy international success since its initial release in early 2006.
Rodrigo is a deft finger-picker who can move from raging speed to sensual soul in the space of a fret, while Gabriela employs fast, rhythmic techniques. Her percussionistās thrashing of strings and drumming of the instrumentās body inevitably raises comparisons with the flamenco style of rumba, but the band specifically denies a flamenco influence. Nonetheless, it is often referred to as "nuevo flamenco", symbolising a sort of renaissance of the traditionally Spanish music genre whose origins began in the Middle East when the Moors brought their cultural music to Europe. The duoās repertoire flies beyond familiar Latin folk guitaristsā styles because of the metal connection: their reworkings of Led Zeppelin's āStairway to Heavenā and Metallicaās āOrionā are musts, and the presence on āIxtapaā of the fiery Hungarian gypsy violinist Roby Lakatos is inspirational.
The Story:
Rodrigo and Gabriela met as teenagers, at the Casa de Cultura (House of Culture), in Mexico City, where Rodrigoās brother was Director. Rodrigo was playing drums in his band Castlow - a code word he never revealed to Gabriela, and changed to Tierra Acida (Acid Earth) when she joined them on guitar. The couple drifted together through music; teenaged metal fanatics who both failed entrance to the Conservatory and moved into rock. Before joining Tierra Acida, Gabriela ran three girlsā bands, Las Brujas (The Witches), Subterraneo and Las Formigas (The Ants) at once: Terra Acida had a disciplined work ethic: āIt was mental!ā she recalls, āwe rehearsed five hours a day, every day, with very short breaks, and not much talking!ā
Tierra Acida played in Mexico Cityās roughest clubs and lived off day-jobs (Gabriela taught Metallica riffs to local kids; Rodrigo at a TV station, doing music for programmes). They recorded an album but wouldnāt sign the record contract, planning instead to concentrate on learning more guitar styles. In fact, they just hung out with friends and survived by playing bossa novas in the hotel bars. āThen we decided to travel to Europeā.
Their first port of call was Dublin, Ireland. āIt was the most unknown place to usā, explains Gabriela, the talkative one. āAlso, a Mexican girl offered us her house there.ā They landed in Dublin at night, spoke no English, and had $1,000 between them. They found a note on the door saying actually, sorry, but they couldnāt stay there after all, so the taxi driver drove them round hostels and hotels all night. Eventually they rented a place - and soon the money disappeared: āSo - we had to buskā. That was 1999: āWe were very exotic specimens!ā They built a reputation and landed gigs in peopleās homes, at wedding parties and gallery openings, playing covers and their own compositions, āWe still wanted to be metal composers, but everything came out as Latin!ā
Dublin was booming then, with new music venues and galleries and a thriving rock scene, and the two Mexicans jammed with local folk musicians in the bars. In winter, they moved to Denmark and started again - this time busking at minus three degrees! The brief Copenhagen experience inspired two numbers on the current album, āDiablo Rojoā, a scary roller-coaster ride in the city, and āViking Manā, their nickname for a homeless man they befriended, who pushed them into busking on the freezing streets.
Next, they hit Barcelona, but this time, the club owners assumed they played Mariachi, and wouldnāt let them play in their own unique style, so Rod & Gab ended up jamming on Barcaās main drag Las Ramblas getting heavy duty hassle from the Catalan cops. Just in time, a call came from Ireland to come back and play the newly opened Sugar Club. Damian Rice, then a busking friend, invited them to support his shows, and in 2003, they released āRe-Focā, and a year later, āLive Manchester and Dublin,ā which both launched them onto the World Music circuit ā and beyond.
The Music:
Rodrigo and Gabriela describe their style as āFusion musicā: āItās mainly got Latin harmonies and rhythms but the structure is rock. Itās not jazz because itās structured, and we donāt improvise; our solos are exactly whatās on the record, as a metal fan and guitarist you always want to hear the same f**king solo!ā
Influences range from family salsa records to Gabrielaās auntās Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, Queen, and Led Zeppelin vinyl, with Rodrigo also embracing a similar classic rock lineage. But crucially they grew up during Mexicoās āmetal era.ā āPeople expected two acoustic guitarists would play classical music, but we dropped in extracts from Led Zep, Hendrix and Metallica, then we did the same with āStairway to Heaven!ā Their music is instrumental āwith very lyrical themes.ā
Mentions of flamenco influences raise sharp responses: āTo many music fans, it sounds like flamenco, and weāre great flamenco fans, but we donāt play itā says Gabriela. āThe only similarity is that our music is guitar music and itās very rhythmic.ā
This albumās producer John Leckie (Radiohead, Muse, My Morning Jacket) arrived on the scene via a demo sent to him by their Irish record label, and he called the very next day. The three agreed to record āliveā, and Rodrigo and Gabriela were placed in the same room in a studio in Bath, England, to perform as if on stage: āWe played each track over and over, and only āOrionā has overdubs.ā Roby Lakatos, the fiery gypsy violinist was the only outsider, and his presence on āIxtapaā is wonderful. āWe saw him on TVā, Gabriela remembers, āPlaying at a concert in Amsterdam, and we sent him our music. He improvised this whole piece in two hours!ā From the many, many live versions, Leckie chose āthe one.ā
The Touring
The global success of āRodrigo y Gabrielaā (300,000 worldwide sales and counting) has been spurred on by Rod & Gabās dedication to hard work on the road. 2006 saw three UK tours and three US tours, plus extensive European and Australian sojourns. 2007 has seen them back in the USA (once Rodrigoās visa problems were sorted out by the State Department) and the UK for many more shows, including festival spots at Coachella, Glastonbury, V, Bonnaroo, Oxegen (Ireland), Latitude, Pukkelpop (Belgium), Lowlands (The Netherlands) and countless others. For Rodrigo y Gabriela, the road really does go on forever.
Rodrigo is a deft finger-picker who can move from raging speed to sensual soul in the space of a fret, while Gabriela employs fast, rhythmic techniques. Her percussionistās thrashing of strings and drumming of the instrumentās body inevitably raises comparisons with the flamenco style of rumba, but the band specifically denies a flamenco influence. Nonetheless, it is often referred to as "nuevo flamenco", symbolising a sort of renaissance of the traditionally Spanish music genre whose origins began in the Middle East when the Moors brought their cultural music to Europe. The duoās repertoire flies beyond familiar Latin folk guitaristsā styles because of the metal connection: their reworkings of Led Zeppelin's āStairway to Heavenā and Metallicaās āOrionā are musts, and the presence on āIxtapaā of the fiery Hungarian gypsy violinist Roby Lakatos is inspirational.
The Story:
Rodrigo and Gabriela met as teenagers, at the Casa de Cultura (House of Culture), in Mexico City, where Rodrigoās brother was Director. Rodrigo was playing drums in his band Castlow - a code word he never revealed to Gabriela, and changed to Tierra Acida (Acid Earth) when she joined them on guitar. The couple drifted together through music; teenaged metal fanatics who both failed entrance to the Conservatory and moved into rock. Before joining Tierra Acida, Gabriela ran three girlsā bands, Las Brujas (The Witches), Subterraneo and Las Formigas (The Ants) at once: Terra Acida had a disciplined work ethic: āIt was mental!ā she recalls, āwe rehearsed five hours a day, every day, with very short breaks, and not much talking!ā
Tierra Acida played in Mexico Cityās roughest clubs and lived off day-jobs (Gabriela taught Metallica riffs to local kids; Rodrigo at a TV station, doing music for programmes). They recorded an album but wouldnāt sign the record contract, planning instead to concentrate on learning more guitar styles. In fact, they just hung out with friends and survived by playing bossa novas in the hotel bars. āThen we decided to travel to Europeā.
Their first port of call was Dublin, Ireland. āIt was the most unknown place to usā, explains Gabriela, the talkative one. āAlso, a Mexican girl offered us her house there.ā They landed in Dublin at night, spoke no English, and had $1,000 between them. They found a note on the door saying actually, sorry, but they couldnāt stay there after all, so the taxi driver drove them round hostels and hotels all night. Eventually they rented a place - and soon the money disappeared: āSo - we had to buskā. That was 1999: āWe were very exotic specimens!ā They built a reputation and landed gigs in peopleās homes, at wedding parties and gallery openings, playing covers and their own compositions, āWe still wanted to be metal composers, but everything came out as Latin!ā
Dublin was booming then, with new music venues and galleries and a thriving rock scene, and the two Mexicans jammed with local folk musicians in the bars. In winter, they moved to Denmark and started again - this time busking at minus three degrees! The brief Copenhagen experience inspired two numbers on the current album, āDiablo Rojoā, a scary roller-coaster ride in the city, and āViking Manā, their nickname for a homeless man they befriended, who pushed them into busking on the freezing streets.
Next, they hit Barcelona, but this time, the club owners assumed they played Mariachi, and wouldnāt let them play in their own unique style, so Rod & Gab ended up jamming on Barcaās main drag Las Ramblas getting heavy duty hassle from the Catalan cops. Just in time, a call came from Ireland to come back and play the newly opened Sugar Club. Damian Rice, then a busking friend, invited them to support his shows, and in 2003, they released āRe-Focā, and a year later, āLive Manchester and Dublin,ā which both launched them onto the World Music circuit ā and beyond.
The Music:
Rodrigo and Gabriela describe their style as āFusion musicā: āItās mainly got Latin harmonies and rhythms but the structure is rock. Itās not jazz because itās structured, and we donāt improvise; our solos are exactly whatās on the record, as a metal fan and guitarist you always want to hear the same f**king solo!ā
Influences range from family salsa records to Gabrielaās auntās Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, Queen, and Led Zeppelin vinyl, with Rodrigo also embracing a similar classic rock lineage. But crucially they grew up during Mexicoās āmetal era.ā āPeople expected two acoustic guitarists would play classical music, but we dropped in extracts from Led Zep, Hendrix and Metallica, then we did the same with āStairway to Heaven!ā Their music is instrumental āwith very lyrical themes.ā
Mentions of flamenco influences raise sharp responses: āTo many music fans, it sounds like flamenco, and weāre great flamenco fans, but we donāt play itā says Gabriela. āThe only similarity is that our music is guitar music and itās very rhythmic.ā
This albumās producer John Leckie (Radiohead, Muse, My Morning Jacket) arrived on the scene via a demo sent to him by their Irish record label, and he called the very next day. The three agreed to record āliveā, and Rodrigo and Gabriela were placed in the same room in a studio in Bath, England, to perform as if on stage: āWe played each track over and over, and only āOrionā has overdubs.ā Roby Lakatos, the fiery gypsy violinist was the only outsider, and his presence on āIxtapaā is wonderful. āWe saw him on TVā, Gabriela remembers, āPlaying at a concert in Amsterdam, and we sent him our music. He improvised this whole piece in two hours!ā From the many, many live versions, Leckie chose āthe one.ā
The Touring
The global success of āRodrigo y Gabrielaā (300,000 worldwide sales and counting) has been spurred on by Rod & Gabās dedication to hard work on the road. 2006 saw three UK tours and three US tours, plus extensive European and Australian sojourns. 2007 has seen them back in the USA (once Rodrigoās visa problems were sorted out by the State Department) and the UK for many more shows, including festival spots at Coachella, Glastonbury, V, Bonnaroo, Oxegen (Ireland), Latitude, Pukkelpop (Belgium), Lowlands (The Netherlands) and countless others. For Rodrigo y Gabriela, the road really does go on forever.
Gabriela Solo
Rodrigo y Gabriela Lyrics
We have lyrics for these tracks by Rodrigo y Gabriela:
Foc Acostat ja miram als ulls no tinguis por i vine amb mi agafa…
One KRS One Miscellaneous Only One It's time for me to get on…
Oogie Boogie's Song Well well well, what have we here? Sandy Claws, huh? Ooh,…
Orion (Instrumental)…
Stairway To Heaven (Live) I'm walking a wire, it feels like a thousand ways…
Temple Bar [Instrumental]…
The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos
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Yovani Rdz
El dia que los oigas tocar en vivo comprenderas lo de los gritos, son realmente un dueto impresionante!!! saludos!!!
Darth Danker
magnificent, triumphant, the most fantastic. rhythm playing musician I've seen or heard!. thank you,. thank you, Gabriela, for letting us all see and feel something really beautiful inside. Thanks for the great guitar lessons, too. .Stevehillbilly
soadfan33
What an amazingly talented woman!!
Hardy Har Har
She is so awesome. I love her. They are great together too!
Robert Len Stallard
Outstanding percussive work... five stars!!!!!
ElJoca62
Oh my god, she's awesome. I saw she and Rodrigo in my city. It was amazing. She is amazing. La grandre classe. Il n'y a pas beaucoup de mot assez puissant pour les dƩcrire. Mais sur cette video, elle est vraiment terrible. Elle est classe, tout simplement!
Esther77
What a inspiration Gabriela! I love it! :D
it is a mystery
she made love to that guitar that was absolutely amazing full of emotion everything was perfect!
aniket g
excellent,i can see the passion n devotion against the art n science of guitar,best wishes n all the best,keep it going
Yesenia Dalila Rebollar Lopez
Quee belleza de ejecuciĆ³n, maravilloso ver a esta chica tocar.