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Rodrigo Y Gabriela Find Inner Peace With 'Mettavolution'

The first time I heard Rodrigo y Gabriela, the pair was covering Metallica's "Orion." It's a beautiful composition, but what I couldn't wrap my head around was that this dense, majestic instrumental was being played by only two acoustic guitars.

Rod and Gab are known for their incredible live shows. The singers having busked and played throughout Ireland for almost a decade before becoming international sensations, playing the world over.

The duo's latest album is Mettavolution. Metta is the Sanskrit word for compassion. Today, we'll talk about how the members convey that message through their music, and why they chose to cover a legendary Pink Floyd song, one that happens to be 18 minutes long. But first, let's get started with a performance of "Mettavolution," the title track, from the stage of World Cafe Live. Listen in the player.

Copyright 2020 XPN. To see more, visit XPN.

Since 2017, John Myers has been the producer of NPR's World Cafe, which is produced by WXPN at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Previously he spent about eight years working on the other side of Philly at WHYY as a producer on the staff of Fresh Air with Terry Gross. John was also a member of the team of public radio veterans recruited to develop original programming for Audible and has worked extensively as a freelance producer. His portfolio includes work for the Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site, The Association for Public Art and the radio documentary, Going Black: The Legacy of Philly Soul Radio. He's taught radio production to preschoolers and college students and, in the late 90's, spent a couple of years traveling around the country as a roadie for the rock band Huffamoose.