New Spanish flavour

(Morning Star, Friday 01 December 2006)

LIVE: Robrigo y Gabriela, Waterfront Hall, Belfast

LIKE banjo-based popular music-covering act Hayseed Dixie, Rodrigo y Gabriela take what may be termed "traditional" music and make it all modern, like - for the kids.

Comparisons to flamenco are denounced vociferously by the duo, but there is a degree of the classic Spanish guitar sound to their music.

Rodrigo y Gabriela's story is admittedly enthralling - two young Mexicans left their thrash-metal guitar background and made some cash playing low-key acoustic versions of Anthrax, Slayer et al in the foyers of posh hotels.

Now based in Dublin, the last few years have seen them move from gifted buskers into the realm of sell-out guitar artistes.

Rodrigo is a guitarist of immense skill, leading the audience through what are notionally their own compositions, but which do sound a little like the soundtrack from A Place in the Sun.

Followed swiftly by a set of rock covers, bringing in everything from Metallica to the White Stripes, he reacts well to the excitable crowd and really enjoys acting the star.

Gabriela is a quieter performer, but her talent is nonetheless breathtaking, keeping fierce rhythm with her knuckles on the guitar that she clutches, a controlled foil to Rodrigo's vivacious flair.

The show is given an extra dimension by the cameras positioned in close range to the pair, shooting blown-up black and white images onto the back screen and bringing an intimacy to a sell-out show which makes the experience all the more vital.

Approach Rodrigo y Gabriela with caution, sure - their new take on old songs may strike some as a gimmick, but the truth is that their talent makes an instant fan of anyone lucky enough to see these two up close and personal.