Mexican metalheads Rodrigo y Gabriela now playing with an orchestra

If you want to see some virtuosic guitar playing and haven’t yet heard of Rodrigo y Gabriela, you must see them in action. Rodrigo Sanchez and Gabriela Quintero, both from Mexico, met while playing in a metal band as teenagers. The teenage band fell apart, and Rodrigo and Gabriela ended up in Dublin where they thought they’d try their luck. The duo showed up in Ireland on one-way tickets, hardly speaking any English, and took to the streets, busking. Rodrigo y Gabriela played their acoustic guitars for hours and hours, in the streets, in pubs, at weddings and eventually their own unique style of guitar playing emerged.

Check out their playing style in this video of “Tamacun:”

Gabriela plays the rhythm parts, filling in what a bassist and drummer would do by slapping her guitar strings and the body of her guitar. Rodrigo lays down the riffs and solos. Together they work beautifully, in an infectious, energetic way.

The music they play now doesn’t sound like metal at all, but you can definitely hear the metal roots in their covers of Metallica and Led Zeppelin. Check out their cover of “Stairway to Heaven:”

Rodrigo y Gabriela released their third studio album, 11:11, in 2009, which increased their popularity in the U.S. A few years later, they felt like it was time for a new album, but didn’t have enough new original material written to record an entire disc. Rodrigo got the idea to buy some time by going to Cuba and re-recording some older songs with a Cuban orchestra. Rodrigo and Gabriela arranged some of their songs for a 13-piece orchestra called C.U.B.A. (Collective Universal Band Association), featuring some great horns and keys. They also dragged a few special guests into the studio with them: Anoushka Shankar, Carles Benavent, John Tempesta, le Trio Joubran and Samuel Formell Alfonso.

Check out the trailer about the making of this new album, called Area 52: