34th & Now

Acoustic. F-cking. Rock. Gods. That is literally the only way I can think to describe Mexico’s Rodrigo Sanchez and Gabriela Quintera better known as Rodrigo y Gabriela, and even that seems like a gross understatement of their tremendous talents. Seriously. Rodrigo is a flat-picking & finger-picking virtuoso while Gabriela…well…Gabriela is in a league of her own—I’ve watched her breakdown her rhythm technique in the DVD that accompanies their self titled debut album and my brain still exploded.

The two first met in Mexico as teenagers when they were brought together by their mutual love of heavy metal and classic rock—bands like Metallica, Pink Floyd, and Led Zeppelin. The duo then spent years busking outdoors all over South America and Europe—including a stint during negative three degree weather in Denmark—before getting their big break in Dublin with legendary producer John Leckie (Radiohead/Muse).

Today, though their music,—which Rodrigo y Gabriela dub “fusion”—straddles genres like rock, world, and Hispano-classical, you can still hear a bit of that heavy metal influence in the chord progressions and solos. And while pinning them down to a single genre might prove difficult, one thing is for certain, Rodrigo y Gabriela, like their idols Jimmy Page and Slash before them, are certified rock stars.