As I walk around the class, I’m checking for capital letters and underlined words. My students are practicing the correct way to write a title. But as their fingers form words on paper, their feet are tapping and their heads are bopping in what might look like a restrained “headbang.” What’s going on in this 6th grade English classroom? Is this a School of Rock? Not so much. My students are listening to the acclaimed instrumental guitar duo, Rodrigo y Gabriela.

I like to listen to music while I work which is why I play music for my students while they do their work. I also think music is a great way to open my students’ minds and introduce them to other cultures. I try to play instrumental music from all over the world. My new found interest in Guitar Hero III reminded me of a band I saw on The David Letterman Show about a year ago. Rodrigo y Gabriela were exciting to watch while they sparked memories of foreign lands I’ve visited. Their performance was modern yet old-world; it was both rock and Spanish flamenco rolled into one performance.

Who are Rodrigo y Gabriela? According to their website, www.rodgab.com, “Rodrigo (Sanchez) and Gabriela (Quintero) are two fast-fingered, Dublin-based, Mexicans with a unique sound created on acoustic guitars. Their music is difficult to define, straddling both world and rock, and often imbued with timeless Hispano – classical influences. The fire in it comes from their life-long passion for metal music. This spring, “Rodrigo y Gabriela,” beat both the Arctic Monkeys AND Johnny Cash to number one in the Irish charts.

Rodrigo is a deft finger-picker who can move from raging speed to sensual soul in the space of a fret, while Gabriela employs fast, rhythmic techniques. Her percussionist’s thrashing of strings and drumming of the instrument’s body inevitably raises comparisons with flamenco – which they acknowledge as an influence but swerve as a pigeonhole. The duo’s repertoire flies beyond familiar Latin folk guitarists’ styles because of the metal connection: their reworkings of Led Zep’s “Stairway to Heaven” and Metallica’s “Orion” are musts, and the presence, on “Ixtapa”, of the fiery Hungarian gypsy violinist, Roby Lakatos, is inspirational. “

Rodrigo y Gabriela won my students’ approval today not with a flashy guitar playing, but with their sound. So, mis amigos, here are a couple of videos. (You may not be able to see them from school because of the internet filter.) Watch and you’ll be even more amazed with this group. I know you all love the “Stairway to Heaven” cover, but check out the Letterman performance of Diablo Rojo– it’s even more impressive!

Rodrigo y Gabriela– “Diablo Rojo” from The David Letterman Show

“Stairway to Heaven”

“Orion” (Metalica cover)

Write back and tell me what you think of this group, their music, this style of music, or what you think about listening to music in class.