Rodrigo y Gabriela bring new song ‘Cumbé’ to the Fox

Though they’ve remained active on the road in recent years, the acoustic instrumental duo of Rodrigo Sanchez and Gabriela Quintero, better known as Rodrigo y Gabriela, haven’t released new music since 2014’s “9 Dead Alive.”

According to a press release, each song on “9 Dead Alive” is a celebration of people who have passed on but whose deeds and words still resonate today.

Album opener “The Soundmaker,” for example, is an ode to Spanish guitarist and luthier Antonio de Torres Jurado, and “Misty Moses” is a tribute to Harriet Tubman.

“Torito” is dedicated to animals and nature, and “The Russian Messenger” is an ode to Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

“9 Dead Alive” finds the duo returning to their roots after collaborating with other musicians on the soundtracks for “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” and “Puss In Boots” and with 13-piece Cuban orchestra C.U.B.A. on “Area 52,” which Sanchez and Quintero released in 2012.

“We just wanted to get back to the essence of who we are,” Quintero told Latin Times about “9 Dead Alive” in 2014. “I wanted it to sound as if Rodrigo and I were playing in your living room.”

Four years later, the wait for new music is finally over, with the August release of “Cumbé.”

And judging from the live session video for “Cumbé,” which the paired recorded in its Lumbini Studio in Ixtapa, Mexico, Sanchez and Quintero are continuing with their back-to-basics approach on their upcoming fifth album.

The untitled album is due to be recorded in October and is expected to be released in early 2019.