Around here, we tend to limit our flamenco experience to that Best of the Gipsy Kings comp every vaguely exotic restuarant seems to cement into their sound system. But coed flamenco guitar duo Rodrigo y Gabriela (they’re Mexican by birth, and based in Dublin, Ireland) are, quite frankly, blowing our minds. Though the band’s self-titled was technically released here this October, it’s been somewhat of a slow burn so far. This astonishing clip, from Letterman a few days ago, might help kick them up to the next level. Who knew fingers could do this? At this speed?? We’re still recovering from Mr. Miyagi catching flies with chopsticks, but this… if you’re not duly impressed, try watching the band perform their nimble takes on classics like Zeppelin’s "Stairway to Heaven" (they also do Metallica’s "Onion").
What do you think? Is it merely pretty brunch background, or the real deal?
Holy. Freaking. Jehosefat.
Brilliant.
A friend told me about these guys, but didn’t believe it….She was right, AMAZING, just grabbed the cd off Amazon, looks like it has a DVD too.
They are really good, but please don’t call taht music FLAMENCO. It is like saying that C. Aguilera is a Jazz singer.
Wow — thanks for that heads up. About to jump off of EW to go order the CD.
Uh, I think the Metallica song is called “Orion” not “onion”
Saw them on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson months ago. They’re fabulous.
Leah, thanks for giving Rodrigo y Gabriela some pop watch love. But rule #1 they are not flamenco- every interview they give they say it.
Wow – I’ve forwarded the video to everyone. These two are the real deal. Acid rock, classical, flamenco, and RodGabico. It all fits together in such a surprising and winning way.
Watching them, I’m reminded of how slick and sort of spectacle-y most music is these days – it’s so finished and overproduced that the art seems to fall right out of it. But this stuff is so authentic.
I’m also thinking that it was a brilliant move for them to go to Europe. In Mexico, they were sort of lost in the crowd, and in America, they probably wouldn’t have been seen at all through the racism. Their move reminds me of the African American artist exodus to Europe in the 1940s and 1950s.
I hope they stay in Ireland and can manage their way through the coming fame, and always keep the rawness and joy of their performing alive.
Salud!
They opened for Gomez a few months ago and left me and a friend wondering how much longer they’d be a mere opening band. The CD, while very good, doesn’t do justice to their phenomenal live skills–their wild percussion and passionate, frenetic style come across better on stage–so try to catch a gig if you can. Fantastic.
They opened for Gomez a few months ago and left me and a friend wondering how much longer they’d be a mere opening band. The CD, while very good, doesn’t do justice to their phenomenal live skills–their wild percussion and passionate, frenetic style come across better on stage–so try to catch a gig if you can. Fantastic.
This is NOT Flamenco. At all. This isn’t a splitting hairs thing. It’s like calling Leonard Cohen a heavy metal artist.
prrr… she’s gorgeous and she can really play. I haven’t a problem calling their music flamenco. wtf. music is music and… live goes on