At the end of the 1970s of the last century, in the small town of Arles, which is located in the southern part of France, a group performing flamenco music was founded.
It consisted of: José Reis, Nicholas and Andre Reis (his sons) and Chico Buchikhi, who was the "brother-in-law" of the founder of the musical group.
The band's first name was Los Reyes. At first, the musicians performed on local stages, but over time they realized that it was time to expand the area of their activities.
The listeners immediately fell in love with the band for its romantic and insightful melodies, the tone of which was set by the Spanish guitar.
The history of the name Gipsy Kings
Unfortunately, Jose Reis passed away early. He was replaced by Tony Ballardo. Together with him, his two brothers, Maurice and Paco, came to the musical group.
After a short period of time, Diego Ballardo, Pablo, Kanu and Pachai Reyes organically joined the team. Chico soon left the group, moving to a new team.
Melodic sounding and professional attitude to their work predetermined the popularity of the musicians. They were invited to city holidays, wedding celebrations, to bars.
Often they performed right on the streets. Since they constantly wandered and often spent the night in the open, the musicians decided to change the name of the group.
Worldwide recognition of Gipsy Kings
A sharp turn in the creative career of the Gipsy Kings took place in 1986 of the last century after meeting Claude Martinez, who was engaged in the "unwinding" of young bands.
He liked the combination of the music of the gypsies of southern France and the talented and original singing. In addition, the musicians played so virtuoso and incendiary that Claude could not pass by and believed in the success of the group.
In addition, the band's repertoire included not only the flamenco style, but also pop music, motives from Latin America, Africa and Asia, thanks to which they became known outside of France.
In 1987, the Gipsy Kings (inspired by success and recognition) composed the songs Djobi Djoba and Bamboleo, which became real international hits. The team signed a lucrative contract with the recording company Sony Music Group.
After getting some of the group's compositions into the charts of European countries, the musicians decided to go to the United States of America in order to finally consolidate their success.
By the way, the American public liked them so much that they were invited to the inauguration of the US President. After the tour, the musicians decided to take some rest and spend their free time with their family and friends.
The further fate of the Gipsy Kings
After several performances in the New World (in America), they have their own fan club. In January 1990 of the last century, the musicians gave three deafening concerts at once in their homeland, after which they were recognized even by the most fastidious French music lovers. On the wave of success, the Gipsy Kings group went on tour to Moscow.
After recording the album Live (1992), the band recorded the album Love and Liberty. The album became one of the most successful. It contained not only compositions in the flamenco style.
The guys understood that now they need to combine different styles in order to please every fan. Nevertheless, they did not betray themselves and the traditional songs of the group also got on the disc.
In 1994, the guys decided to take a short break and did not record new albums, but released a greatest hits record, adding only one new song to it. In 1995, the musicians returned to Russia and gave two concerts on Red Square.
The band recorded their next album, Compas, in 1997. The album of the Gipsy Kings group made a real revolution in the music industry. It was decided to name the fully acoustic disk Roots.
The album was produced and recorded by a label in the United States of America. Fans have been waiting for an acoustic record for a long time, so they were incredibly happy about its release.
In 2006 the band recorded another acoustic album, Pasajero. However, this time they decided to add rhythms of jazz, reggae, Cuban rap, pop music to the music. In some compositions, fans and music lovers could even discern Arabic motifs.
Until now, many connoisseurs of real guitar music are happy to meet this world-famous band. Music experts consider the Gipsy Kings a unique phenomenon in music.
Before their appearance, mass popularity was achieved by those who performed rock and pop music, but not like flamenco, combined with other national styles of different countries.
The music of the Gipsy Kings is still recognizable, it can often be heard on the radio, from the windows of houses, in various videos on the global network and on television.
Of course, the musicians have not lost their popularity and are still cheerful and energetic. True, they have aged quite a bit.
