The Gipsy Kings
| The Gipsy Kings | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Arles, Provence, France |
| Genres | Catalan rumba, pop |
| Years active | 1978 – present |
| Labels | Elektra, Nonesuch, Columbia/SME Records |
| Website | www |
| Members |
Nicolas Reyes Tonino Baliardo |
| Past members |
Canut Reyes Chico Bouchikhi Andre Reyes Jacques Baliardo Maurice Baliardo Pablo Reyes Patchai Reyes Jorge Trasante |
The Gipsy Kings are a group of flamenco, salsa and pop musicians from Arles and Montpellier (in the south of France), who perform in the Spanish language with an Andalusian accent. Although group members were born in France, their parents were mostly gitanos, Berber-Moroccan and Spanish gypsies who fled Catalonia during the 1930s Spanish Civil War. They are known for bringing Catalan rumba, a pop-oriented music distantly derived from traditional flamenco music, to worldwide audiences. The group originally called itself Los Reyes.
Their music has a particular rumba flamenca style, with pop influences; many songs of the Gipsy Kings fit social dances, such as salsa and rumba. Their music has been described as a place where "Spanish flamenco and gypsy rhapsody meet salsa funk".
The Gipsy Kings, born in France but brought up with Spanish culture, are largely responsible for bringing the sounds of progressive pop-oriented flamenco to a worldwide audience. The band started out in Arles, a town in southern France, during the 1970s, when brothers Nicolas and Andre Reyes, the sons of flamenco artist Jose Reyes, teamed up with their cousins Jacques, Maurice, and Tonino Baliardo.Manitas de Plata and Jose Reyes were a duo which had triggered the wider popularity of rumba flamenca (also known as Spanish or gypsy rumba). It was famous singer Reyes, however, who was mostly responsible for the new surge of popular interest when he left Manitas de Plata and started a band of his own, made up of his own sons, which he called "Los Reyes" (as well as being the family name, reyes means "kings" in Spanish).
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Wikipedia