Rodrigo y Gabriela

Two acoustic guitars, one extraordinary wall of sound
It's a mighty long way from the drizzle of Dublin's Grafton Street to the elegant stateliness of the White House, but it's a journey that Rodrigo Sanchez and Gabriela Quintero are familiar with. Theirs is the kind of rags-to-riches tale whose telling is increasingly rare in the eternally cynical, clinical music industry. But just as Seasick Steve irresistibly rose from hobo bluesman to festival headliner on a largely word-of-mouth basis, the Mexican duo's own upward mobility was fired by similar means, rapidly taking them from those Saturday afternoon busking sessions in the Irish capital to playing an intimate show for Barack Obama. Not only has their ability to mesmerise crowds both modest and massive remained intact, nowhere along the way has the pair's modus operandi changed. The tools of their trade have always simply been two acoustic guitars, played with conversation-halting technique, controlled fury and absorbing intensity. Astonishment starts here.

(Biography written by Nige Tassell 2011)