German Guitar Duo Cooking Up a Little Global Gumbo

Jorg Nassler and Silvio Schneider, German guitarists who were inspired by the all-star acoustic trio of John McLaughlin, Paco de Lucia and Al DiMeola, will make their third appearance Saturday at Cal State Northridge.

Describing the Nassler and Schneider sound can be tricky, even for the guitarists.

“We try to mix all kinds of music,” Schneider said. “For instance, Spanish music, like flamenco, or Brazilian music, like samba, and mix in a little bit of jazz and classical style. These are all our own compositions, but we use a mixture of these styles.”

Music has always been vital in Dresden, where the pair are from, but the demise of the communist East German regime, which led to reunification in 1990, gave Nassler and Schneider the freedom to travel and provided access they hadn’t had to musicians from around the world.

“Before, you could listen to records, but now you can hear [the music] live,” Schneider said. “That’s important. It wasn’t always possible for us.”

Because CSUN has a strong guitar program, the informed audience often greets them with close scrutiny, Schneider said.

“If I know there are maybe five guitarists in the first row, that makes us a little bit nervous, but it’s not really a problem,” Schneider said. “And it’s very interesting to speak with them and get feedback, to speak about the way of education and how they learned to play and so on.”

BE THERE

Nassler and Schneider perform Saturday at 8 p.m. at the Cal State Northridge Student Union Grand Salon, 18111 Nordhoff St., Northridge. $15-$9. For information or tickets, call (818) 677-2488.