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Taken from Connected magazine, February 2006

Take a quick glance around the audience of a Rodrigo y Gabriela gig, and you’re bound to see jazz enthusiasts rub elbows with metal heads, often unaware that they’ve genre-hopped into each other’s tastes. Fluently blending everything into a musical jigsaw, it comes as little surprise that the Mexican duo’s latest album has entered the charts at number 1 – the first instrumental album ever to do so. From streaming fretwork to hypnotic flows of percussion, Rodrigo agrees that fusion finds a perfect vehicle within their dynamic: “Yeah, that’s important, and it’s natural, y’know? I mean we never planned it to go that way, it’s just something we’ve been doing for years, even before the music we’re playing now. Though I’d say at this moment in time, with so many different kinds of music around the world, it’s a progression that suits really well, and that’s refreshing.”

“To be honest,” adds Gabriela, “I think the way we express what we do is genuine enough for the elements just to come in naturally. Because we’re from Mexico, people assume automatically that we play traditional music, so it’s funny just to start jammin’ Metallica. It makes the point that music doesn’t really have any borders, you can play whatever – music is music.”

From busking in Dublin restaurants, penniless and with little English, to playing sold-out stadiums with David Gray, the journey in-between has progressed at a whirlwind speed. “Well if we think back to the metal years when we were in Mexico,” recollects Rodrigo, “then of course that seems a long way away now. Although in general terms, to have started officially playing gigs with this kind of music 4 years ago here and actually having people pay to see you, that part of it has felt quite fast…but personally, it’s been a long road.”

Having chosen Ireland as their home away from home, the people here have taken to the duo with such enthusiasm that the country has proven to be a fertile ground for their music and a pivotal step in their success. When asked why the Irish people have responded so well to them, Rodrigo can only shake his head with a look that suggests he’s wondered the same thing countless times. “…That’s a question that I think I’ll never be able to answer,” he shrugs, nonplussed.

“But the Irish are a musical people,” chirps Gabriela. “They really, really love music here, and you can see that it’s one of the few countries that still has its traditional music alive. In other parts of the world, it’s not like that at all. So I think that love for music that the Irish have really helped for us to come here and start busking in the street.” Remembering it now, Gabriela lights up with a laugh: “People would be like ‘Where are you from? Ah! What the fuck are you doing here?!’”

Although an American record deal and a collaboration with Radiohead producer John Leckie both pay testament to their achievements, progressing on their own terms and protecting their live sound were issues Rod and Gab considered imperative. “Well (“Tamacun”) was a change in that it was the first time we became like a trio because John was so involved,” says Gabriela. “We were basically living with him 24 hours a day while we were recording the album. He would load so many different microphones around us, and we could just sit and play and play ’til we got it so it felt like a live gig.” “Yeah, we tried to get it as live as possible,” agrees Rodrigo. “I mean most musicians probably want that to happen in their albums, because it’s when you feel you can deliver the most.”

Returning to Dublin’s Olympia theatre in early April after a string of sold-out European dates, here’s hoping that delivering is something Rodrigo y Gabriela will continue to do…

Copyright © 2006 – Connected

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