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Over the years the Gipsy Kings - which hail from the gypsy community in Arles and Montpelier in the south of France - has included singers and guitarists from the Reyes (Canut, Nicolas, Pablo and Patchai) and Baliardo families (Diego, Paco and Tonino). Lead singer Nicolas Reyes is the son of famed Flamenco singer José Reyes, who, with Manitas de Plata, sold millions of records in the 60's and 70's. The vigorous strumming of multiple acoustic guitars and the passionate vocals of the Gipsy Kings have best been defined by critics and fans as an exotic musical hybrid, "rumba flamenca".
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About The Gipsy Kings
You may think "Bamboleo" and "Djobi, Djoba" are all the Gipsy Kings have to offer, but these consummate musicians are more than two-trick ponies. With members born to two prominent (and related) Gypsy families in southern France, the band struggled for years as a wedding ensemble before hitting the big time in 1988 with their eponymous release. Though justly characterized as softening the flamenco tradition for world audiences, the Kings are perennial favorites and destined to remain such.
These popular flamenco artists initially formed as an offshoot of the family group Los Reyes (the Kings), who in the 70s and 80s were led by father José Reyes. Together with sons Nicólas and Andre Reyes, they enjoyed significant domestic success in Spain, though contrary to popular belief their origins lay on the other side of the French border. In 1982, Nicólas and Andre Reyes teamed up with Chico Bouchikhi when he married into the family. The Gipsy Kings were formed when they joined with three cousins from the Baliardo family (Diego, Tonino and Paci), each member singing and playing guitar with Nicólas Reyes as their lead vocalist.
As the Gipsy Kings the band attempted to reach a worldwide market for the first time, initially earning their reputation by playing to film stars and royalty at France's St. Tropez holiday resort. They made their worldwide debut with a self-titled album for Elektra Records in 1988, by which time several collections had already been released in Spain and mainland Europe. As before, the music blended elements of the Nueva Andalucia flamenco style, with the inclusion of percussive foot stamps, handclaps and vocals drawn from Arabic music. In addition to their trademark multi-guitar sound, they also added other components, including drums, bass, percussion and synthesizers. This effort to broaden their appeal resulted in a massive international breakthrough, including number 1 status in the Canadian and Australian charts, with Gipsy Kings peaking at number 16 in the UK. The ensuing Mosaique, though marginally less successful, saw the group incorporate elements of jazz (collaborating with Rubén Blades) and 50s/60s pop.
In the early 90s, the personnel shuffled, and the Gipsy Kings began to lose much of the momentum they had built up in the previous decade, despite the release of a live album in 1993. Cantos De Amor reversed the trend, becoming a major success for them in 1998. The follow-up Somos Gitanos was another slick, highly commercial effort, but long-time fans of the Gipsy Kings were more encouraged by 2004's Roots. Recorded in a farmhouse in the south of France, the album returned the Gipsy Kings quite literally to their roots, with the production sheen of their hit albums largely dispensed with in favor of a rollicking, down-home atmosphere.