The Gipsy Kings will be kicking off their 25th Anniversary in support of the group's new album SAVOR FLAMENCO on Knitting Factory Records, with dates starting on the East Coast in January 2014. SAVOR FLAMENCO is the group's first new release in six years. The project marks The Gipsy Kings' 25th Anniversary of their first U.S. Release, GIPSY KINGS in 1987. It is also the first time in the group's storied career that the Kings have produced themselves and written all of their material. Please stay tuned to the band's web site www.gipsykings.com for more show dates.
Based on Camargue, the very famous land by the Mediterranean Sea, the Gipsy Kings are made up of two families--the Reyes family from Arles and the Baliardos from Montpellier. The musical adventure of these two families started in the 1960s when Jose Reyes was singing with Manitas de Plata (Ricardo Baliardo) performing all around the world in theaters including Carnegie Hall in New York City. There is music by Manitas de Plata y Jose Reyes on youtube. Their fans included Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí, Miles Davis and Charlie Chaplin.
When the duo parted ways, Jose Reyes became even more popular after starting his own band, Los Reyes. His sons backed him up. When the elder Reyes passed away in 1979, Nicolas and Andre began playing with the Baliardo brothers in Les Saintes Maries de la Mer during the The Gypsy's Pilgrimage. They traveled, busking nearby on the streets of Saint-Tropez, performing on beaches during the day and for celebrities such as Brigitte Bardot by night. "Los Reyes" means "The Kings," and the band changed their name to The Gipsy Kings.
The Gipsy Kings' musical style has been called "Rumba Flamenca" which allows The Gipsy Kings to combine traditional flamenco styles with Western Pop and Latin rhythms, Latin and Cuban styles, Arabic, reggae, jazz, and--of course--gypsy styles!
The band speaks French, and performs music in Spanish dialect of Gitane, the native Gipsy language, that is a mixture of Spanish, French, and Catalan. The root of the Gitane culture is in the southern part of Spain that includes Seville and Granada. One of the economically depressed areas of Europe, this region has given the world flamenco music, bullfighting and Moorish-influenced Architecture. The people in that area are known as "Gitanos," Spanish Romani people who fled Catalonia during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). (The term "gitano" comes from "Egiptano," a Spanish term for "Egyptian" as the English word "Gypsy" comes from "Egyptian.")
CONFIRMED GIPSY KINGS TOUR DATES JANUARY 2014
FRI 17 Atlantic City, NJ - Revel (Tickets on sale: Nov. 15 at 12 noon)
SAT 18 Mashantucket, CT - Foxwoods (Tickets on sale: Nov. 15, 10 am)
SUN 19 New Brunswick, NJ - State Theatre (Tickets on sale: Nov. 15 at 10 am)
MON 20 Alexandria, VA - Birchmere (Tickets on sale: Nov. 15 at 12 noon)
WED 22 Northampton, MA - Calvin Theater (Tickets on sale: Nov. 15 at 10 am)
THU 23 Lynn, MA - Lynn Auditorium (Tickets on sale: Nov. 14 at 10 am)
FRI 24 NYC - City Winery (Tickets on sale: Nov. 21 at 3 pm)
SAT 25 NYC - City Winery (Tickets on sale: Nov. 21 at 3 pm)
