Gipsy Kings
A decade ago, in the wake of an army of British and American pop crooners with synthesizers and gravity-defying hair, it would have been difficult to envision the astonishing and enduring success enjoyed by the Gipsy Kings over the past eight years. Hailing from the caravans of a gypsy community in Arles and Montpelier in the south of France, this band of tightly-knit brothers and cousins are World Music's most acclaimed artists, renowned for having dominated the genre ever since their blockbuster single Bamboleo in 1987. With the lightning strumming of multiple acoustic guitars and the signature of their expressive passionate vocals, the brothers Reyes and Baliardo-who speak in the Gypsy dialect of Gitane-have mined their musical and cultural roots, consistently drawing enthusiastic listeners whose language, in most cases, they don't share. There are no other examples of a non-English-speaking band with such a consistent winning streak in the US-where the group is the biggest selling French act ever.
The triumph of the Gipsy Kings is revealed most vividly through a telling myriad of charts, awards, reviews, and sold-out appearances. Since the phenomenal debut of Gipsy Kings in 1988 (Top Ten in over a dozen countries, receiving fifteen Gold and Platinum records), their ensuing albums-Mosaique, Allegria, Este Mundo, Gipsy Kings Live, and Love & Liberté;-have provided a steady fuel of hits to Billboard's World Music, Latin, and Top 200 charts. With every one of their albums on the Pop Latin chart, the Gipsy Kings were Billboard's #1 charting World Music Artist and #1 Latin Artist of 1994. In addition, their song Sin Ella from 1991's Este Mundo was chosen by Peter Weir for the soundtrack to his 1993 film "Fearless." The 1995 Nonesuch release,The Best of the Gipsy Kings, presented a brimming catalogue of the band's most memorable hits, plus a new single, A tu Vera, and a club-mix medley bonus track-both previously unavailable. Shortly after its release, the group's first two albums achieved platinum and gold status in the US.
Still, the exotic appeal of the Gipsy Kings' sound, stemming from their unique ethnic background-a mixture of Spanish, French and North African influences-which is at the heart of their success. They are the sole act performing a musical hybrid which has been dubbed "Rumba Flamenca." Lead singer Nicolas Reyes is the son of famed Flamenco singer José Reyes, who, with Manitas de Platas, sold millions of records in the 60s and 70s. Over the years, the band has included singers and guitarists from the Reyes family (Francois, Canut, Nicolas, Pablo and Patchai) and the Baliardo family (Diego, Paco, and Tonino), with numerous additional musicians contributing to the rich brocade of the group's organic sound.
The Gipsy Kings' new Nonesuch release,Tierra Gitana, is yet another milestone in the band's success story. Three of the album's tracks are instrumentals, and all are in the nearly-impossible-to-classify style for which the group has become known and loved. The first album of all new material since 1993,Tierra Gitana will be a long awaited gift to the Gipsy Kings' millions of fans throughout the world, and will keep them dancing furiously to its irresistible rhythms.
A PBS television special on the Gipsy Kings, including interviews with band members, documentary footage from their native Gypsy communities, and footage of the band in performance at Wolf Trap, will air in early summer. The band will also begin a two-month tour on July 23 with two nights at New York's Radio City Music Hall, and continue on to more than 15 other US cities, including Boston, Baltimore, Washington, Chicago, Miami, Phoenix, Atlanta, Cleveland, Seattle, Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco.
