The 24 January 2012 the Mexican guitar duo Rodrigo Y Gabriela will release the new studio album on the label PIAS, distribution SELF.
AREA 52 is their first record recorded with the collaboration of other musicians, a 13-piece Cuban orchestra composed of Havana's best young musicians known as C.U.B.A.
Co-produced by Rodrigo, the album was produced by Peter Asher, already known for his work with James Taylor, Bonnie Raitt, 10,000 Maniacs, Diana Ross and as A&R of Apple Records, and mixed by Rafa Sardinanominated 25 times (with 11 wins) at the Latin Grammys.
In AREA 52, Rodrigo y Gabriela revisit nine of their favourite compositions, re-interpreting them in a new and intense guise; you will hear Rodrigo y Gabriela as you have never heard them before.
The new arrangements were made by the Swiss composer/arranger/ pianist Alex Wilson, best known for his work with Courtney Pine and Ernest Ranglin. The recordings were made during the summer at Abdala Studios in Havana and later at Rod & Gab's studio in Ixtapa, Mexico. Guests include Anoushka Shanktar on sitar, rock drummer John Tempesta (The Cult, White Zombie, Testament) on two tracks, jazz bassist Carles Benavent (Miles Davis, Chick Corea) on two tracks and Palestinian group Le Trio Joubran.
Rodrigo explains the choice of title as follows AREA 52: 'Approaching this record we felt like Mulder and Scully; the idea of seeing a big Cuban band playing our music was like a leap of faith'. He adds: 'We know that people have always heard about Area 51, so we wanted to go one step further.'
Rodrigo y Gabriela have sold more than 1.2 million albums and their last world tour sold out from London to Los Angeles, Paris to Tokyo, Dublin to Sydney. In recent years they have collaborated with the likes of Robert Trujillo of Metallica, Zack De La Rocha of Rage Against The Machine, Al Di Meola, L Shankar, Alex Sklopnick of Testament and Strunz & Farah and this year they have also collaborated with Hans Zimmer on 'Pirates of the Caribbean 4: Beyond the Edge of the Sea'.
RODRIGO Y GABRIELA will soon be in Italy for two unmissable dates:
Tuesday 22 November ROME @ Auditorium Parco Della Musica
Wednesday 23 November MILAN @ Magazzini Generali