Mas Y Mas Por Favor — Rodrigo y Gabriela

I am going to take a break from politics and local events in this posting, and share a new musical experience (for me). Last night I watched last Saturday's showing of Austin City Limits — for the second time.

If you are not familiar with the show, it is on channel 10 Public TV, 10 p.m. most Saturday nights here in Milwaukee. It highlights musicians and bands of virtually every genre in an outdoor live venue in Austin, Texas.

This week's show was Rodrigo y Gabriela — husband and wife from Mexico who both play (for lack of a better word at their level) guitar. A mixture of Flamenco, Salsa, Jazz, and much more that is hard to describe.

Watching their complete mastery of the guitar (of several types) begs for comparison of the very few who have reached such a level, such as Jimi and Carlos. 

Their use of the guitars as percussion instruments is similar to how Tango and Flamenco musicians use all their instruments for percussion as well.

It is easy to get totally into their energy — reminds me of when the old El Babalu's on 6th and National had live Salsa bands from Chicago playing — a tidal wave of music.

Joining them for about 1/2 the show was a fantastic group C.U.B. A., a band from Havana, was great watching and hearing them exchange licks in some of the jazz numbers.