The Gipsy Kings

Flamenco band

For the Record…

Played for the Rich and Famous

Rocketed to International Stardom

Nominated for Best World Music Artist

Selected discography

Sources

From the obscurity of playing parties and festivals in the south of France, the Gipsy Kings have moved up to the prominence of performing on Saturday Night Live and the Johnny Carson Show. Their music has been used in a range of different projects, including the soundtrack to pop star George Michael’s Diet Coke commercial and cover material for salsa and merengue band recordings. They have developed a style of music that has been described variously as gypsy rock and salsa-flamenco fusion. The Gipsy Kings are not only adaptable but are internationally accessible, as 15 gold and platinum albums worldwide bear witness.

The six-member group formed in 1976 when musicians from two French Gypsy families joined together. Nicolas and Andre Reyes—the sons of Jose Reyes, the famed flamenco singer for Manitas de Platas—along with Tonino, Paco, and Diego Baliardo and Chico Bouchikhi—all of whom are either cousins or brothers-in-law of the Reyes—are steeped in the Gypsy lifestyle. All of the Gipsy Kings live in an 80-trailer Gypsy caravan near Aries, France, for at least part of the year.

For the Record…

Members include Diego Baliardo (guitar), Paco Baliardo (guitar), Tonino Baliardo (solo guitar), Chico Bouchikhi (guitar and background vocals; retired in 1989, replaced by Canut Reyes), Andre Reyes (guitar and background vocals), and Nicolas Reyes (lead vocals and guitar).

Band formed c. 1976 in Aries, France; as Los Reyes, released album Gitan Poete, 1977; changed name to the Gipsy Kings and released album Allegria, 1982; performed throughout Europe and North Africa; released Gipsy Kings, Elektra, 1987.

Awards: 15 gold and platinum records worldwide; nominated for best world music artist, Billboard, 1989.

Addresses: Manager —Shep Gordon, Alive Entertainments, Inc., 8912 Burton Way, Beverly Hills, CA 90212. Record company —Elektra, 75 Rockfeller Plaza, New York, NY 10019.

Only three of the members have permanent houses elsewhere in France. “Our music is ageless and its roots are in the family and in caravan life,” Chico Bouchikhi was quoted as saying in the New York Times. “Our mothers were listening to this music when we were still in their wombs and now our children are born with it. That’s how integral it is to our lives.”

Originally called Los Reyes, the group recorded under that name on their first album, Gitan Poete, in 1977. This record was the first of the Gipsy Kings’ efforts to put flamenco music into pop song structures. From the start they were followed by devoted fans to every feria (festival) in the south of France. From St. Tropez to Italy, thousands of men and women danced the night away to the rhythm of the six guitarists dressed in flashy dress shirts, black peg-leg pants, and shiny boots.

Played for the Rich and Famous

In 1982 the band changed their name to the Gipsy Kings, preferring the uncommon alternate spelling with an “i,” and released their second album, Allegria, a folk record featuring more traditional songs. The lyrics, sung in a patois called Gitane—a mixture of French, Spanish, and Gypsy languages—cover the subjects of love, freedom, and the celebration of life.

The Gipsy Kings recorded another acoustic album entitled Luna de Fuegos in 1983. The music was characterized by the cascade of five rhythm guitarists strumming and was punctuated by the passionate, raspy wails of Nicolas Reyes and the daring solo lines of lead guitarist Tonino Baliardo. Baliardo’s agile playing drew comparisons to another French Gypsy guitarist, the jazz master Django Reinhardt. Over the next three years the band established themselves as a popular live act in clubs throughout Europe and North Africa. They became a favorite of the French jet set, even receiving an invitation from sultry screen actress Brigitte Bardot to play at her birthday party.

Things really took off for the Gipsy Kings in 1986, however, when the group caught the attention of French record producer Claude Martinez. Martinez, who later became their manager, offered the band a recording opportunity using modern pop production and arrangements. After a year of careful work the Gipsy Kings managed to match folk melodies with a contemporary rhythm section that included bass, synthesizer, and percussion. “The change came pretty smoothly,” Chico Bouchikhi commented in the Washington Post. “We all agreed on it. The only thing that we were afraid of is that if we were to invite new musicians, that we would lose our essence. But actually it worked very well and we all thought it was perfect timing to do it.”

Rocketed to International Stardom

Indeed the setting was ripe for the Gipsy Kings’ induction into international stardom. Gipsy Kings was released in 1987 on Elektra and became a surprise Top 10 hit in continental Europe. Both “Bamboleo” and “Djobi Djoba” became hit singles in more than half a dozen countries. Although Gipsy Kings entered Bill-board’s pop album chart at Number 199, the recording sold more than 150,000 copies in America alone. At last the band had cracked the U.S. market.

The Gipsy Kings spent the next two years touring extensively and promoting the new album. Life on the road suited the group very well; they spent all of their time, both on and off the stage, together. True Gypsies, the nomadic way of life was in their blood as well as in their music. As Chico Bouchikhi stated in the Washington Post: “It was very important to us not to be a big group but to be together as a family. It was one way to stay together and also explore a career.”

The Gipsy Kings’ music was soon touching the lives of many people. In July of 1988 the group performed at a benefit concert for SOS Racisme, a French human rights organization that has sponsored concerts in Africa, Europe, and New York City. In the same year French fashion designer Christian Lacroix came out with a line of clothing he said had been inspired by listening to the Gipsy Kings’ music. In the United States the adult contemporary video channel VH-1 chose the single “Bamboleo” as a Pick of the Week.

Nominated for Best World Music Artist

Although the Gipsy Kings’ previous effort had done very well, a doubt arose as to whether or not Gipsy Kings had been too acoustic for American discotheques. The sextet responded in 1989 by introducing a mix of electronic and acoustic percussion that blended polyrhythmic styles ranging from salsa to the Islamic popular music of raion their next major label recording. Salsa superstar Ruben Blades collaborated with the Gipsy Kings on the album and co-wrote “Caminando por la Calle.” The result, Mosaique, was an exotic, toe-tapping flamenco crossover and earned the group a nomination for Billboard’s best world music artist. Later that year Joan Baez did a Spanish version of “May Way” with the Gipsy Kings on her own album, Speaking of Dreams.

During one of their infrequent rests from touring, Chico Bouchikhi retired. He was replaced in 1989 by yet another relative from Arles, Canut Reyes. The new lineup of Gipsy Kings recorded Este Mundo in the spring of 1991. Like previous releases, the album contained both traditional songs and flamenco tunes amidst a variety of cantes, or ballads, bailes, or dance music, and toques, solo guitar instrumentals. The album, however, contained very different rhythmic ideas from the disco-oriented Mosaique. Mideastern influences were explored with the use of two percussion instruments, the darbouka and the tabla. The unique sounds of Este Mundo proved to be another winner for the band.

The Gipsy Kings’ successes continued into the 1990s, prompting the group to deliver a live album in 1992.

Before he left the band, Chico Bouchikhi, as quoted in People, expressed a sentiment that may well explain the reason behind the Gipsy Kings’ great popularity: “We played for Charlie Chaplin before he died and the music made him cry. It’s for a reaction like that that we work so hard.”

Selected discography

(As Los Reyes) Gitan Poete, Tudor, 1977.

Allegria, CBS France, 1982.

Luna de Fuegos, CBS France, 1983.

Gipsy Kings, Elektra, 1987.

Mosaique, Elektra, 1989.

Este Mundo, Elektra, 1991.

Live, Elektra, 1992

Sources

Books

Manuel, Peter, Popular Musics of the Non-Western World: An Introductory Survey, Oxford University Press, 1988.

Periodicals

New York Times, July 21, 1988; July 24, 1988; March 6, 1989; December 6, 1989.

People, February 13, 1989; January 29, 1990.

Spin, November 1991.

Time, January 2, 1989.

Washington Post, December 28, 1988; March 4, 1989; January 28, 1990.

Additional information for this profile was obtained from Elektra Records press releases, January 1988, February 1989, and June 1991.

—Christian Whitaker