Rodrigo y Gabriela (Rodrigo and Gabriela) are a Mexican acoustic guitar duo whose music is influenced by a number of genres including nuevo flamenco, rock, and heavy metal. The duo's recordings consist largely of instrumental duets on the classical guitar. Currently residing in Mexico City, they began their career in Dublin, Ireland, during an eight-year stay. They have released five studio albums, three live albums and one EP. In 2011 they collaborated with Hans Zimmer on the Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides soundtrack while also contributing to the soundtrack for the Shrek prequel Puss in Boots. They have toured internationally and in May 2010, performed at The White House for President Barack Obama. 　　Rodrigo Sánchez (born 1974) and Gabriela Quintero (born 1973) grew up in middle-class families in Mexico City. Their parents listened to flamenco, jazz, and rock music but they were both exposed to heavy metal, like Metallica, which proved influential to Rodrigo and Gabriela. 　　Rodrigo and Gabriela met at the age of 15, at 'la casa de la cultura' (House of Culture) in Mexico City, where Rodrigo's brother was the director. Quintero was in a drama class and at the suggestion of his brother, Rodrigo met up with her. She remembers "this 15-year-old boy there, dressed in a black ... with messy hair. Yet he was different to the other metal-heads his age: he seemed very serious and didn't drink or smoke". The two bonded over their interest in music and they soon became a couple. 　　In the early 1990s, Sánchez formed a heavy metal band called Tierra Acida (Acid Land) with his brother. Quintero joined them in 1993 "as they couldn't get a guitarist who would please Rodrigo". When a record deal for the band fell through in 1997, Sánchez and Quintero left Mexico City for the resort town of Ixtapa on the Pacific coast of Mexico. They played in beach side bars and hotels for nine months where "we wanted to play a different kind of music, something we could make as our own".