Rodrigo y Gabriela started out in a thrash metal band in Mexico City. Now they play acoustic jazz...and they live in Ireland. A little explanation of such musical and geographic journeys is in order. And so we turn to Louise Williams in Dublin for today's Global Hit.

It's an unlikely love affair between this Mexican duo and Dublin. Rodrigo Y Gabriela landed here with little money, almost no English and no gigs booked. They were planning to stay a while, but their money ran out, so they took to the streets to play music just to keep a roof over their heads. It was a big change from their previous musical careers in Mexico, in thrash bands and as background musicians at a beach resort. Gabriela says that the life of a busker is unpredictable and adventurous.

Gabriela: "You don't know what's going to happen. Especially if you're under pressure money-wise, it gets really exciting, because you are always afraid of the weather, the police, other buskers, that people will throw things at you, it's a sort of paranoia for buskers."

But Gabriela says it was also an education for her and Rodrigo.

Gabriela: "Busking was the ultimate school of music. I think the busking thing made us more focussed on the music, not yourself, not your arrogance. 'I'm trying to get this lick right.' It was more like 'Oh My God, I need to get this done, otherwise it may not happen.' It was more fear."

Whatever the motivation, Rodrigo Y Gabriela's developed a sound of their own, a little Latin, a little jazz with hints of their heavy metal past.

The music of Rodrigo Y Gabriela is influenced from a variety of sources. Oddly enough the pair were strictly metal fans, before they arrived in Ireland.

Gabriela: "We never listened to Mexican of Latin music, because we were metal. We say "Yuck," we don't even bother. Even though at home, as little kids, and Rodrigo in his own life, he listened to all sorts of music from jazz to classical. But all the rest you don't pay attention to, you don't want to become like that. So here it was ironically that all that started to come up and we said 'Okay, we'll bring it up.'"

After Ireland, Rodrigo Y Gabriela set off to see the rest of Europe. Denmark's capital Copenhagen was the next stop. But it was winter and that's a tough season for street performers in northern Europe. And so Rodrigo Y Gabriela headed south to Barcelona in Spain. Busking went well there, but Gabriela says that their attempts to play in the city's jazz clubs were less successful.

Gabriela: "People over there, the bar owners, they saw us as Mexicans. 'No, no bolero, no mariachi.' We said okay, but it's not Mexican music, we gave them some CD samples. And one day, it was the jazz club, very famous in Barcelona in Barrio Gottico. So he rang us exactly one day before we were coming to Ireland again. We were packing and he rang and he was like, 'Oh my god, I'm so sorry, I've just listented to your CD and I want to put you on next Friday if that's okay'. We said sorry too late, too late."

Rodrigo Y Gabriela came back to Ireland and their timing couldn't have been better. The year was 2001 and the Irish economy was booming.

Gabriela: "A lot of people in Ireland they start to become very wealthy and they want what they see in the street. So we were in the shopping street, so why not get the buskers. Because we played in really wealthy houses, politicians and everybody said, 'Oh that's the buskers, they're Mexicans, completely exotic. They come from a faraway land and they're suddenly here in Ireland."

Rodrigo Y Gabriela have just completed a tour that took them to Australia, New Zealand and much of western Europe. But Gabriela says that she and her musical partner aren't quite as comfortable in Germany, France or the Netherlands, as they are here.

Gabriela: "The difference between those countries and Ireland is that Ireland is our second home. And people have seen us evolve whereas in other countries, we arrive as a superstar, hit the Number 1 album charts. Here, it's like playing at home, we feel more nervous here, I don't know why but it keeps us on our toes."

The Mexican duo played in Seattle last month. Now they are set to take a break. They are set to pick up their world tour next year, winning fans from stadiums, rather than from the streets.

For The World I'm Louise Williams in Dublin, Ireland.