Twenty-five years ago, two separate bands of brothers could not have imagined their professional careers taking off the way they did. These men, the Reyes brothers (Nicolas, Canut, Paul, Patchai and Andre) joined voices and guitars with the Baliardos (Diego, Paco and Tonino) to play music in and around Cannes, France. As the sons of Spanish Gypsy families that fled to France during the Spanish Civil War, they performed the music they loved best — flamenco — peppering it with Western pop and spicy Latin rhythms.
When they realized Los Reyes translated to “The Kings,” a bulb went off; and the light shone on a new name: the Gipsy Kings.
| Onstage |
| Gipsy Kings |
| Where: Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts, 1645 Trap Road, Vienna |
| When: 8 p.m. Friday |
| Info: $42 house, $25 lawn; 877-WOLFTRAP; wolftrap.org |
“This is a band with a 25-year history that has gone around the world and entertained millions of people, both with their recordings and [in person,]” said their manager, Peter Himberger, who has been with them through the entire journey. “They really love what they do.”
And it shows. Their current American tour has sold-out houses in Los Angeles, Seattle and, most recently, Salt Lake City.
“I think the Gipsy Kings are genuine [and] their music is like a sponge from the whole world,” Himberger said, explaining the group’s phenomenal popularity. “Theirs is a mixture of all cultures, from the Middle East to Europe and Spain. They have taken bits and pieces from their travels, and I think everybody relates to that. They are a global band.”
At Wolf Trap, the Gipsy Kings will perform a variety of songs from their 18 albums to date, and a few from their latest, to be released in the first quarter of 2012. Certainly the music of their early albums will be featured.
“We do many from the early records that [are] special to us,” songwriter Canut Reyes noted. “We sing from ‘Allegria,’ ‘Luna de Fuego’ and from our favorite, ‘Gipsy Kings’ [1988.] It was our first success.”
Many more blockbusters followed, including “Volare! The Very Best of the Gipsy Kings,” from 1999 with a second release in 2000.
Canut Reyes is hopeful that the Wolf Trap audience will dance to the music, which can’t help being anything other than energetic, like their international sensation, “Bamboleo.”
“Sometimes the ladies come onstage to dance with us,” he said, recalling past performances. “It’s nice.”
