Rodrigo y Gabriela bring C.U.B.A. orchestra with them on Area 52 Tour
:: Rodrigo Y Gabriela ::
:: 1st Bank Center :: April 10 ::
By Fallon Anderson
In this modern day age we inhabit, there is much travesty that becomes part of our everyday lives. Headlines across the globe bare the blood and mourning of devastation consistently, without flinch. This quicksand of reality grows ever stronger by the day and there are few outlets that truly bring a universal connection to those in need. But high on a pedestal among these outlets lies music: the world’s only truly universal language. Strip music of lyrics and anyone around the globe is hit by the same sound waves. Though individual meaning to these melodies may vary, we are all capable of letting in the music and everything that may come along with it.
Across Colorado’s Front Range we are no strangers to this theory, as jam bands are so prevalent in our realm; but the variety of musicians who possess this connective thought is limitless. Amongst said musicians are the guitar duo extraordinaire Rodrigo Y Gabriela, whose lack of lyrics has forced millions of fans worldwide to let go of all lingual boundaries and check in to a wordless world.
“It’s not really about the artist, it’s about the whole idea of forgetting, at least for a couple of hours, the issues and problems we all have,” Rodrigo Sanchez said during a recent interview with The Marquee. “Through music we can find a space where we can be at peace and connect with our inner self.”
The space that can be found around Rodrigo Y Gabriela is one filled with spine-tingling string seduction and romanticized rhythms. While they are based in traditional flamenco playing, the two bring a contemporary twist to the genre, both in their original material and their covers of tracks as far from flamenco as Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” and Metallica’s “Orion.”
Currently stateside for a spring tour, the duo is supporting their latest album, Area 52. This spicy new album offers a new take with — for the first time — the addition of a 13-piece Cuban orchestra, entitled C.U.B.A. “We didn’t think it was going to be that interesting,” said Sanchez. “The project, honestly, was between albums, when we started working on it and realized that we, in a way, were reinventing the songs.”
The result comes in the form of colossal horn arrangements, magnificent punches of musical force, and of course the ever-evolving finger perfection of Rodrigo Y Gabriela.
Area 52 is drenched in emotions that many hearts have yet to flutter with and that no language has managed to capture with any arrangement of letters.
“We thought we would go to Cuba and just learn something, but we learned a lot and the music developed in a very different way,” Sanchez said. “We embraced the whole thing.”
Though commonly Rodrigo Y Gabriela are collectively referenced as an on-stage romantic connection, it seems as though nothing could touch the romantic musical connection between the duo and C.U.B.A. The uptempo paradise created on Area 52 makes the lust-hungry listener weak in the knees, all the while impetuously provoking the body to move.
As the album name suggests, with its nod to the famed Area 51, these musicians have evoked other-worldly sounds on our own planet. “The way they [C.U.B.A.] understand music and they communicate to you in the music, it’s very different and very unique,” said Sanchez. “For us — in a good way — they were kind of like aliens the way they talk to each other.”
With their recognition seemingly spreading like wildfire across the globe, Rodrigo Y Gabriela’s moral rooting in their music provides prescription to the infected, like Will Ferrell provides cowbell to “Don’t Fear The Reaper.” “I think success — that word is pretty relative,” said Sanchez. “We both know that we are there for a reason — that’s our purpose in life — to play guitar so people can enjoy true music.”
For this tour, Rodrigo Y Gabriela will be bringing with them the Cuban orchestra featured on Area 52. “We don’t have a label — a style of music,” Sanchez said. “We like to help people react to the music. Again, it’s not really about us. It’s really about being where people enjoy what you do.”
:: Rodrigo Y Gabriela ::
:: 1st Bank Center :: April 10 ::
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