SOUNDTRACK: RODRIGO Y GABRIELA-Tiny Desk (Home) Concert #15 (April 28, 2020).
The only thing better than seeing Rodrigo y Gabriela live (which is amazing) is getting to see them up close just to be even more amazed by what they can do.
The Mexican duo known as Rodrigo y Gabriela travel the globe playing to crowds who are captivated by their almost telepathic acoustic guitar interplay. But they make their home in Mexico in a sunny Pacific beach town called Zihuatanejo (remember The Shawshank Redemption?). For this performance we get a peek at their home studio, where they surround themselves with guitars and dress down in sneakers and casual clothes. They run through tunes from throughout their recorded history, including a song they played at the Tiny Desk back in 2009. Rodrigo y Gabriela’s picking and strumming feel more relaxed than usual but maintains their intense focus.
“Tamacun” and “Diablo Rojo” come from their album Rodrigo y Gabriela (2006). Rodrigo plays the amazing and catchy leads and it’s terrific to watch him. But I think that Gabriela with her unconventional and at times mind-blowing rhythm section that is even better to watch. I never quite know what she’s doing with her right hand. Is she specifically hitting different strings with different fingers, or is it just an elaborate strum?
The percussive sound they both get on “Diablo Rojo” is fantastic. That they can keep the song interesting while just hitting their guitars is so cool.
“Hanuman” is from the album 11:11. Each song on that album is a tribute to an artist who has inspired them. This is a tribute to Carlos Santana (whom they met after this song was released).
“Mettavolution” is the title track from their newest album. I love that they are album to write so many instrumentals with just two acoustic guitars and have them all sound so different. Near the end of this one Rodrigo says that normally they ask people to sing along (woah oh ohs), but since there’s no crowd, maybe you’ll sing along at home.
It’s hard not to.
[READ: April 25, 2020] “No. 13 Baby”
This is an excerpt from Barry’s novel Night Boat to Tangier.
I have mixed reactions to Barry’s stories. I usually like the details, but sometimes the the overall story is too intense (I don’t especially like stories about drug dealers) .
Set in the Plaza de la Constitución in Spain, Maurice Hearne is waiting for someone. The man arrives and says Maurice needs to pay half of the money first before he can meet Karima. Then the man tells him that he should have his head examined: Just forget these people, go back to Ireland and have some kiddies.
He called home to Cynthia to assure her that everything was going to be okay. Then he went to meet Karima.
Karima was about forty. She looked at Maurice and told him he had a face like in the fairy stories. Elfish. He wasn’t offended. His mother always said they must have found him in the Ummera Wood.
She took him to an apartment and showed him 100 kilos of hasish. Then she took him to another apartment where there was a man chained to a table, blindfolded and gagged.
They went to bar where the owner was watching a mystic lady on TV who seemed to be conversing with the dead.
Karima looked at the TV and Maurice checked out her cleavage. She had a small tattoo, a tiny 13.
Barry has some great lines like in the next section:
Charlie Redmond flew in the next day. Charlie Red had never been on a plane before. It seemed to have raised him a notch higher in self-confidence levels–a notch that he did not need.
Charlie was dressed like he was in the drug business. Maurice orders them octopus
Charlie says
we’re supposed to be atein’ that? This crowd would want to cop themselves on altogether.
Nervously he took a bite, chewed suspiciously for a moment, then relaxed into it with a warm open smile.
Gorgeous, he said.
Then they drove to the pick up location.
I don’t really like drug stories, but I do like Barry’s writing style. I would be somewhat interested in reading this if I didn’t have a lot of other things I’d like to read first.
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