How Their DIY Approach Paid Off

Gipsy Kings are essentially two families – the five brothers Reyes and the three Baliardos – who hooked up in the southern French town of Arles back in 1979. Their 1987 self-titled debut album and its hit single, Bamboleo, obviously touched a nerve, particularly in the US, where the album spent 40 weeks on the charts. They released their most recent album, Savor Flamenco, in 2013, the first they’ve produced themselves.

“We have wanted to produce our own record for a while now,” lead guitarist, co-producer and songwriter Tonino Baliardo explains. “We have always had other producers on board and this time we wanted to see what it was like. It allowed us to write, arrange and pick all the songs that we wanted to work with. By producing it ourselves, it also let us work with musicians and instrumentation that we wanted to include in the project. Producing was a wonderful experience and we would like to do it more. We certainly will keep all options open in the future, but it was a great experience. We were fortunate to not only be nominated for a Grammy, but we also won, which was fantastic to be recognised by our peers.”

That was for Best World Music Album, their sixth win out of six nominations, though the gong was shared with Ladysmith Black Mambazo. More importantly, Savor Flamenco was their first album of entirely original compositions.

“We are open to both originals and covers. We like to keep all our options open. To us all music moves us, whether we write it or someone else does. I would think that in the future, you will see us record both.”

Internationally renowned for bringing new musical elements into their traditional mix of rumba flamenco, Gipsy Kings continue to discover things they’re bringing into their own music.

“Yes,” Baliardo admits, “we are always coming across songs and elements that we had not known before. We naturally try and incorporate our sound into everything we absorb. Also, from where we all live and grew up there are many young musicians from Gipsy settlements bringing a whole new sound to what is going on. We travel all over the world and play in some many different cultures.”

As mentioned above, Gipsy Kings are very much a family tradition and it looks like the next generation is already in the process of taking over when the time comes.

“We are touring with our sons... They bring such a fresh vibe to our sound and performances. Our children are our inspirations and make us explore and push the envelope further and that makes for some great performances.”