standells's Full Review: Rodrigo y Gabriela [Digipak] by Rodrigo Y Gabriela
Rodrigo and Gabriela avoid using the word ‘flamenco’ when they, or anyone, describes their guitar playing. But it’s obvious that their style has flamenco influence, along with metal and rock. Their 2007 self-titled album, is an amazing display of their talents and their ability to seamlessly mix two completely different styles of music. When one thinks of acoustic guitars, it’s easy to imagine calm, dreamy, restful folk music. But this album is the complete opposite: it has fire, unsuppressed energy, and passion. Not only does this set contain a fantastic nine track album, but a generous amount of material on a separate DVD.
Rodrigo Sánchez and Gabriela Quintero have a very eventful history. They were both members of a metal band in Mexico, and when they felt like the metal scene wasn’t working for them, they went to their roots: flamenco. And then, after good things about the music scene, they decided to move to Ireland, playing in clubs and on the streets.
The most distinguishing feature of Rodrigo y Gabriela’s playing is the way they utilize their guitar not only for melody and harmony, but percussion as well. This is what sets their style apart from other discs. Depending on where they hit the guitar, they imitate the sounds of bass drums, latin percussion, and all sorts of exotic sounds.
The album starts with Tamacun, a fast paced piece that immediately grabs your attention. The piece lets the listener know they are in for a new experience. It is the next piece, Diablo Rojo, one of their concert favourites, that got me hooked on this duo. The piece is about a specific roller coaster in Mexico, which makes sense. The piece is continuously driving, never slowing down. This one piece is the perfect representation of the duo’s unique style. It has all the elements: an excellent melody, strong rhythmic playing, and percussive effects from the guitar.
Ixtapa is notable in the way it combines two contrasting ideas effectively. The middle section is a slow, meditative style before seamlessly blending back into the beginning section. Roby Lakatos, probably the world’s greatest gypsy virtuoso violinist, is a special guest on this track. The violin is a welcome change, but Lakatos only plays a solo and a bit at the end. However, I understand that this is Rodrigo y Gabriela’s album, not a Roby Lakatos album. In the end, it makes sense.
The two covers on the album, Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven and Metallica’s Orion are, of course, legendary songs in their own right, the covers seem a little bit tame compared to the rest of the album. Nonetheless, it’s a fresh take on two classics. It always exciting to hear songs played well on completely different instruments, and Rodrigo y Gabriela manage to do it very well.
Every track on the album is instrumental, and vocals are totally unnecessary in this case. Rodrigo makes his guitar sing the melody, or joins Gabriela with some fierce rhythm playing when needed. The liner notes make for a good read, as the duo describes the story or inspiration behind each song.
The DVD included with the CD has some great material on it. I was pleased to find a 15 minute tutorial of Tamacun, where the duo breaks apart the song in each individual section. They show their techniques and slowly play the fast melodies. Gabriela’s rhythm technique is incredible and Rodrigo’s clean melody lines are intoxicating to watch. Keep in mind though, Rodrigo y Gabriela are not teachers, and they try to keep the tutorial interesting by keeping it from sounding like a tedious instructional video. They avoid demonstrating basics like chord formations and each fret Rodrigo uses for the melody, so a previous knowledge of guitar in definitely required.
Also included on the DVD is a 24 minute documentary on Rodrigo y Gabriela. The film offers a look at their struggles and how the duo works together. There is footage behind the scenes of the recording, the duo in Mexico, and interviews. It’s not groundbreaking in any way, but it is an excellent and candid film showing two sides of Rodrigo y Gabriela.
There are also five songs performed live by the duo on the DVD. The audience is all into the performance, and Rodrigo y Gabriela play with just as much, if not more, energy as on the album.
There’s something on this album for everyone: rock lovers will love the acoustic simplicity and imaginative playing, dance lovers will love the rhythmic backbeat in the accompaniment, and metal fans will get a kick out of the obvious metal influences in certain songs. Rodrigo y Gabriela bring all these elements into an excellent whole.
On their 2006 self-titled album, Rodrigo y Gabriela offer up a fierce set of acoustic instrumentals that garnered the Mexican guitar duo international...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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