By Vivien Goldman
You can count on the Gipsy Kings to entrance audiences with their classic flamenco. Calibrated over centuries, the special sound of complex guitar polyrhythms has traveled through Africa, India and across Europe, to bloom anew in Spain and southern France. They bring the global party to East Hampton at The Clubhouse on August 23.
Group leader Tonino Baliardo took time out from a current world tour to explain the genesis of their new album, Historia: “Over the years of being a Gipsy King, I always had the idea of writing about my experiences of touring, family and life as a gypsy.”
Family is everything for the Gipsy Kings. The clan patriarch, José Reyes, caused such a sensation when he first performed in New York in the 1960s with his cousin Manitas de Plata, that fervent fans Salvador Dalí and Pablo Picasso were inspired artistically (Dalí painted while listening to de Plata, and Picasso engraved sketches on his guitar). But the family combo was to subdivide, amoeba-like, into various bands over the decades to come. In the plangent vibrato of the Gipsy Kings today, all the power and pain of their heroic heritage still reverberate.
“Our culture is very family-oriented, and music and dance play a very important part. The original group, Los Reyes, was made up of our fathers, uncles, cousins,” says Baliardo. “One of my greatest pleasures is having my two sons, Cosso and Mikaël, join me on the recording of Historia and onstage. Sadly, while recording Historia, my dear brother Paco, one of the original Gipsy Kings, passed. I wrote my favorite track on Historia, the instrumental track, ‘Cielo,’ in his memory.”
Baliardo was destined for music. As a child, he’d watch his uncle, guitar legend Manitas de Plata, play with the family around their caravans. “One day he said to me, you will be a great flamenco guitar player,” Baliardo says. “He was my inspiration and encouraged me to practice and adopt my own style.
“I view the world today as a very sad and dangerous place,” he continues. “There is no doubt that music has great healing powers, even more than books or films. All our shows are a fiesta. When we hit the stage, everyone is up dancing, clapping, and we are all one gypsy family. As the crowd leaves, I can always hear them singing our hits, like ‘Bamboleo’ and ‘Volare.’ That is our healing power, the joy of our Gipsy Kings fiesta.”
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