Acoustic Wizardry: Rodrigo y Gabriela

Rodrigo y Gabriela. Photo: Courtesy of the artist.

With nothing but two sonorous guitars, Rodrigo Sánchez and Gabriela Quintero offer a most cinematic musical experience on stage. Anticipation, romance, conflict and resolution ”” all find their equal space in the flamenco-rock compositions by the Mexican duo. The duo will be headlining the New Delhi, Pune and Bengaluru editions of NH7 Weekender festival this month and the next.

Interestingly, Rodrigo and Gabriela come from a heavy metal background. In early Nineties, Rodrigo had a metal band in his hometown of Mexico City of which Gabriela was a part. A few years later, the duo moved to Europe and settled in Ireland in 1999. Says Rodrigo,“The heavy metal band didn’t work out in Mexico,” The musicians stayed in Ireland for eight years, where they formed the current outfit and starting touring the world.

At their India shows, one can expect a lively act on stage, marked by Gabriela’s matchless percussive guitar playing and Rodrigo’s soloing. Says Rodrigo, “It’s going to be a rock performance, and we want people to jump up and down.”

Rodrigo y Gabriela have released five albums so far, along with three live records and one EP. Their latest release is the 2014 album 9 Dead Alive, dedicated to notable 21st century personalities. These include the 19th century Spanish guitar maker Antonio Torres Jurado; Chilean author, feminist and the first Latin American woman to receive a Nobel Prize in Literature, Gabriela Mistral and Austrian neurologist and Nazi concentration camp inmate Viktor Emil Frankl who founded the theory of logotherapy [the belief that humans’ primary driving force is the struggle to find meaning in their lives]. On their part, Rodrigo y Gabriela seem to find meaning in their lives by constantly innovating in music. “The biggest challenge is to come up with new sounds on the guitar. We want to make music that doesn’t sound the same all the time.”

(Rodrigo y Gabriela will headline NH7 Weekender Pune [December 4th-6th] and Bengaluru [December 5th-6th.])