Commentary by Sergio Martinez
This Mexican duo has already been present at the Montreal
Jazz Festival in previous editions, so it should have come as no surprise that
the Montreal public gathered in large numbers to see their presentation this
past Saturday, July 1st, at the Wilfrid Pelletier Hall, Place des Arts.
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| In the picture, Gabriela plays the acoustic guitar and Rodrigo, the electric one (photo Benoit Rousseau) |
On this occasion, the projection of visual elements ranging
from abstract images to more recognizable forms, and a spectacular display of
light effects, marked their presentation from the very start. Precisely, in the
beginning, we saw the duo behind what seemed to be some fences, to then see
them descend on a sort of bleachers from which they launched their first songs
highly inspired by heavy metal, one of the formative sources of the duo,
especially Rodrigo.
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| Rodrigo (photo Benoit Rousseau) |
This was then interspersed with songs with more melodic
tones, probably picking up something of their Latin roots, including some
flamenco reminiscences.
All this while the artists squandered energy on stage, with
an admirable vigour (both already entering or very close to 50 years old), and
most importantly: keeping the audience immersed in the musical contrast of
heavy metal, with sometimes calmer rhythms, always leaving as a trademark, the
impeccable workmanship of both with their guitars.
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| Gabriela (photo Benoit Rousseau) |
In short, Rodrigo and Gabriela did not disappoint their
local fans and gave them 90 minutes of music where accelerated and powerful
rhythms got along very well with other more melodic ones, all with a huge and
contagious display of energy on stage.
