BBC World Service | The Panel

Rodrigo Sanchez is one half of fast-fingered, Dublin-based, Mexican guitar duo Rodrigo y Gabriela.

A unique sound created on acoustic guitars, their music is difficult to define and straddles both world and rock.

Often imbued with timeless Hispano-classical influences, the fire in it comes from their life-long passion for metal; Rodrigo is a deft finger-picker who can move from raging speed to sensual soul in the space of a fret.

The duo's repertoire flies beyond familiar Latin folk guitarists' styles because of the metal connection with reworkings of Led Zep's "Stairway to Heaven" and Metallica's "Orion".

Rodrigo and Gabriela met as teenagers in Mexico City. Rodrigo was playing drums in his band Castlow - a code word he never revealed to Gabriela, and changed to Tierra Acida (Acid Earth) when she joined them on guitar.

The couple travelled together through music, a journey that took them from Mexico to Dublin, from playing bossa novas in hotel bars to supporting Damien Rice.

Now they pull huge crowds in their own right, wowing audiences around the world with their energy and understated virtuosity.

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