THE GIPSY KINGS

Garth Cartwright meets multi-platinum superstars The Gipsy Kings, and discovers the same old indestructible Romani spirit

Guitars played as percussion. Rumba rhythms. Flamenco melodies. Ragged voices. Impish smiles. It can only be - The incredible! The fabulous! The legendary! - yup, it's The Gipsy Kings.  Long time gone from these shores (some 12 years), the band having chosen to return as they make the finest music of their lives. When I catch up with them deep in the bowels of Bush House they are, understandably, older than I remember but no less soulful or entertaining. The three guitarists - Nicolas Reyes, Patchai Reyes and Tonino Baliardo - warm up by tossing chords around, flicking out exquisite melodies. Diego Baliardo adds palmas (hand clapped rhythms). Time to record a BBC World Service session and Tonino starts picking out an exquisite Django Reinhardt guitar line while Nicolas and Patchai strum a fluid rhythm. It's Nuages, one of Django's tunes from the 1940s, and as Tonino conjures up fluid, single string melodies his fellow Kings lean in, build the music behind him, helping create a little sonic bubble of loveliness. It's over too soon and the studio erupts with applause, all who bore witness exultant. I compliment Tonino on his playing and he nods. "I reached deep inside myself for that one. I feel Django." Nuages appears on The Gipsy Kings superb new album Roots (SINE) and while Django remains the ultimate guitar icon of both European jazz and Gypsy music it is the first time The Gipsy Kings have recorded him.

"We felt it was about time to pay tribute to Django," Tonino tells me. "We all grew up listening to his music in our caravans and while we never knew him our fathers did. Every year in France all the Gypsies gather in Les-Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer for the festival of Sara-la-Kali (note: Europe's largest gathering of Romani people) and Django would attend. The festival is a great event for Gypsies. We all build fires and everyone forms circles around the fires and has dinner and makes music and you move from fire to fire. And this is how they got to play with Django."

The Gipsy Kings are true European royalty, purveyors of a musical tradition that has been passed from father to son across the centuries. They are also the most successful act in world music history. No one, not even the hybrid success of Buena Vista Social Club, can touch them. From their startling arrival in 1987 with their selftitled debut album and the hit Bambalero until now they've shifted over fifteen million albums and constantly filled stadiums across Europe, the Americas and Asia. Their influence can be found across European Gypsy music - Czech diva Vera Bila's sound was largely shaped by their success, King of Balkan Romani song Saban Bajramovic declared to me they were his "favourite Gypsy musicians" - while reinvigorating Latin musics with their easy mix of Afro-Latin rhythms and European melodies. Such genre busters as Manu Chao and Ojos De Brujo have also taken notes from The GKs' mix of flamenco and Latin music. And if for the last decade they have appeared to mark time - overproduced albums, touring with a host of laggard backing musicians - Roots finds them playing Rumba Gitano as exquisite Gypsy soul music.

The World Service session finishes and suddenly the BBC's Persian service entered the studio and demanded time with The GK's. The presenter, a young woman, grabs the microphone and wants to know if the band are aware that they are the most popular musical outfit in Iran? "We have never been to Iran," says band leader Nicolas Reyes, "so we have no real idea of this but whenever we play Los Angeles we are aware many Iranian people attend our concerts." And, she continues, are you aware the Persian bands in Los Angeles combine parts of your music into their songs? "No," replies Nicolas, "we have not heard these records. But we are happy that they like our music."Thing is, it's not just Iran. In Japan the Gipsy Kings are mobbed on the street. In South Korea they attract huge audiences. In Brazil their hits echo across the favellas. I was in Australia in 1989, a nation even more immune to music not sung in English than the UK, and pandemonium erupted when the group landed at the airport. "That was like being a pop star," says Tonino with a smile. I also recall the event with humour - the Aussie media being gobsmacked when they found none of the band spoke English . . .  That a group of semi-literate Romani musicians who speak and sing a hybrid of Catalan, French, Spanish and what their manager Pascal Imbert calls "pidgin Gypsy" manage to entertain the planet proves how transcendent music is. And there you were, cynical UK citizen, thinking they existed only as the soundtrack for tapas bars.  

The musicians escape the confines of the studio (its "no smoking" policy being disagreeable) and spark up. My lack of language skills means I'm reliant on Pascal translating and as this is thirsty work we decide the hotel bar is the best site possible. On our way there Pascal reflects on Roots, easily the band's finest album since 1990's Mosaique. "The suggestion to do an acoustic album came from the band's American record company. I think we were all aware that the band had got into a rut, recording these highly produced albums that were mixed elsewhere and featured lots of session musicians. But when the suggestion was first put to the band to cut an acoustic album they were afraid. You have to understand that these men have been making music to entertain people all their lives and they thought that an acoustic album might alienate the international audience that so enjoys them. Of course, it was not difficult for them to record an acoustic album, this is the way they grew up playing, how they play for themselves. But until people around Arles (the city in South East France that is home to the GKs and a large Romani population) starting saying to them "this is great", "this is real Gypsy music", "this is your best album" did they start to relax.

Roots is a homecoming in more ways than one: the cover features a black and white photo of two children dancing flamenco while a guitarist strums and a crowd and caravans surround the tiny dancers. The guitarist is Tonino's father and this literally is how the Gipsy Kings learned their skills - living in caravans, playing in restaurants, private parties and for Romani gatherings. The inside photos for Roots' sleeve feature a fascinating selection of images largely taken at the Black Sarah gathering in the 1960s - the initial edition of Roots comes with a DVD that offers many more of these images. And a 1996 US PBS documentary Tierra Gitana focused on the community the band arose from and still live amongst. At present, this documentary is not available in Europe.

Amongst Roots' many images is one of Jose Reyes, the father of four GK members and one of the most famous flamenco singers of the 1960s, caught in full flight, mouth wide open, hands clapping the palmas rhythms, Around him are young musicians who could of stepped straight out of Carnaby Street. Yes, it's the GKs as teenagers. Children and women stare defiantly at the camera, Gypsy eyes signalling fierce pride and an outsider's wariness. As we take our seats and order drinks I pull out the cover of Roots and lay it on the table. Band members occasionally pick it up and flip through it, obviously familiar with it but still seemingly enchanted by the living history in their hands. Producer Craig Street has captured the band's natural ambience, their sandpaper voices and mellifluous guitar interplay, while adding subtle bass (Greg Cohen), percussion (Cyrus Baptista), accordion (Garth Hudson), debouka (Bachir Mokari) and kora (Yakouba Sissoko) so making Roots a masterpiece of contemporary traditional music.

"It's been good for us," says Nicolas Reyes, lead singer and a man who possesses an enchanting smile. "Somewhere we were getting lost so we were happy to go back, deep down in our roots, to find the real thing. No orchestra, just find ourselves with our deep singing.""The songs are a little bit of a mix," adds Patchai Reyes, "there's songs that we've played at camps, at Gypsy gatherings for generations, and then we've built new songs as well. So old songs and new songs we were inspired to create."

I enquire as to two songs, Amigo and Soledad. Could they tell me about the meaning behind these two?

"Amigo is a song about friends," says Diego. "One friend has the blues but the other says 'our friendship cures the blues'. It's message is that when you are sad your friends can make a happy time for you."

Soledad appears a little more perplexing to explain. Although it translates as 'loneliness' no one appears to know what to say. Finally Pascal offers, "that one is written and sung by Canut Reyes. He lives alone, likes to stay alone. It's very much his song, you can tell by the great feel in his voice, so the musicians here don't feel they can explain it."

I mention that although the band handle Django Reinhardt's Nuages with ease I'd never associated them with the Gypsy Swing movement that Django inspired and still remains strong amongst the Manouch (French Romanies).

"OK, we don't normally play that style but we have cousins in Paris and Marseilles who play it," says Tonino, "and that song, Nuages, is very popular with Catalan Gypsies. It's one we have always loved."

"Ahmet Ertegun, who was boss of our American record label, came backstage several times and insisted we record a Django number," recalls Pascal, "so the idea has been there for a while."

And the fame? How do these down to earth men cope with it? Even entering the hotel this evening they were recognised by American guests who squealed with excitement.

"At the beginning we were very surprised," says Nicolas. "When we were playing in restaurants and places like that we were appreciated but we didn't think it would be so appreciated. When we were first told we were going to Japan and Korea we didn't believe they would like our music. But somebody sent us plane tickets and so we went and they loved us!"

"Taking planes and doing big concerts, it becomes work," adds Diego. "Our first big gig we were very surprised that we had so many people and had a sound system. Now we know how it goes, we can play sad, play rumba, bring the party."

Musical success, especially in the USA where they have sold over four million albums and tour regularly, has ensured The Gipsy Kings a financial wealth unimaginable to their predecessors and helped open the door for Balkan and Spanish Gypsy artists. Yet the band remain humble men, seemingly unphased by the wealth that has come their way.

"They all live in simple bungalows," notes Pascal, "outfitted just like their caravans were. They spend their money on expensive cars and jewellery and within the community. Some blow it on gambling. I'm not sure on this but I think they have an attitude that the money they earn is easy money, not real money that they have had to work hard for, so it is money that can be burnt."

Not that fame must of been too much of a surprise for The GKs: Jose Reyes was amongst the most celebrated flamenco singers of his lifetime. He was born and raised around Barcelona yet the suffering inflicted upon Catalonia by General Franco's fascist forces during the Spanish Civil War found Jose packing his family into a caravan and secretly crossing the border into Southern France. Acceptance was not much greater there - "it's hard to make friends and go to school when you are forced to move every three days" notes Nicolae - but Jose soon established himself. Nicknamed "El Negro del Puerto" and "the flamenco John Hurt", his voice was an instrument of great power while his partnership with guitarist Manitas de Plata found the duo performing at Carnegie Hall and celebrated by the likes of Picasso, Cocteau, Chaplin and Bardot. Which makes me recall a story I read in the Rough Guide To World Music: it suggests The GKs were busking in St Tropez and were spotted by Brigette Bardot who hired them to play a party and from there their fame sprung. The band shake their heads upon hearing this."We did play parties for Bardot, this is true," says Nicolas, "but we were already well known by then. St Tropez is full of rich, famous people and they hold parties and like to hire Gypsy musicians. Picasso is godfather to our brother Paul. He nicknamed Paul "le Minotaur" because when he was a baby his hair stood up like two horns. Picasso loved flamenco and much appreciated our father's singing."

I mention this to Paul after their London concert (oft' beautiful, occasionally bombastic) at The Royal Festival Hall and he nods laughing: "it's true! Picasso drew me as the minotaur when I was a baby."

The young Reyes brothers started working with their father after he split with Manitas de Plata. Jose had, they claim, pioneered what is now called Rumba Gitano or Rumba Flamenco, the mixing of the rumba rhythm with flamenco guitars and song. "Jose was singing in Barcelona in the 1960s," says Nicolas, "and he noticed a young woman dancing to rumba and so he started singing along and she danced even better! So he thought, 'if it gets the ladies dancing it must be good' and that's how it started." Appropriately, Bambeleo - the band's super hit - is based on Cabello Viejo by the noted Venezuelan singer Simon Diaz. "The band heard a woman sing it in a restaurant and then they started playing it and she said 'now it is your song'", notes Pascal. "The Venezuelan singer still gets publishing royalties although The Gipsy Kings wrote the chorus and reinvented the song."

The band were called Jose y los Reyes until Jose died in 1979. They carried on as Los Reyes, incorporating their cousins, the Bailardos, into the band. Appropriately, this blending of blood came after a night spent jamming around a Les-Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mar campfire, the Reyes' realising that the superior guitar playing of the Bailardos would strengthen the band. Back then a young Moroccan musician, Chico Bouchiki, joined the band, also on guitar. He left The GKs at the height of their fame to form Chico & The Gypsies. Reyes translates as 'kings' and when an American woman announced to them 'Oh, you're the Gipsy Kings' the band decided the name had a good sound and kept it. A regional record deal in 1987 with CBS Records found the band releasing their eponymous debut album. Immediately it and the single Bamboleo took off in France. The rest of Europe followed and when the head of Nonesuch insisted the band be signed the US and Australasia too fell under their spell. While purists may complain that The GKs have "simplified" flamenco into a pop formula they would point out that Gypsy musicians have always fused all kinds of music. And across Spain flamenco artists took them seriously: even the legendary Camaron cut Rumba Gitano tracks. Which makes me wonder, do the band still listen to flamenco today?

"Of course," says Diego, "flamenco is our music. Paco is the master of the new style. Jose Merce is a great Gypsy flamenco singer. Camaron . . . well, he really was fabulous, the best ever."

Nicolas, Patchai and Tonino all nod in agreement while adding they like to listen to jazz at home as well as flamenco. "And blues," says Nicolas. Are they aware of the Arabic roots of flamenco - the music initially developing while southern Spain was ruled by Moors?

"Of course. We like Arabic music."

Would they ever consider recording with Arabic artists? Say French-Algerian superstar Khaled?

A flurry of discussion follows amongst the band before Tonino attempts to explain: "perhaps we will do this one day but the difference between recording with friends and recording with those you must make deals with, talk to lawyers with, it's a big problem. Khaled, he's a great singer. But I don't know."

At the start of the second half of their South Bank concert the band took turns at performing siguiriyas and soleareas, the wild, wailing vocal outpouring so significant to flamenco. Indeed, the legacy of the Moors lives on in these voices. Were they, I wondered, aware of the respect they are held in by Romani communities across the Balkans? The band seem unsure of this, Eastern Europe being largely unexplored territory (though they have played to huge, mixed audiences in Bulgaria). But, they add, wherever they play the local Gypsies come along to see them."When we play in America we meet the American Gypsies and when in Brazil . . ." Tonino shakes his head. "So many Gypsies!"

"In Brazil the band are always saying, 'watch out! They're Gypsies! Don't let them backstage'," says Pascal laughing. "And somehow the Brazilian Gypsies always manage to get backstage without passes. It's chaos!"

Perennial question I ask to all Gypsy musicians: why are the Gypsy people so gifted at making music?

"Before TV they had to put on a show every night. We were the performers, the actors, for many. It's a way of expressing joy and sadness and we did it every day so we were the best at it."

And why are the Gypsy people so persecuted across the world? UK tabloids having recently indulged in another bout of vicious Gypsy bashing, one they could not get away with against any other minority. The band all speak at once.

"Because the Gypsies were living outside, in a different world, from that of most people when they arrived in Europe and this is how we lived for centuries. And we would be accused of stealing from the villages. Everyone sees a caravan and gets scared, goes and calls the local authorities, says 'Gypsies are here, they steal our chickens!' Mostly the Gypsies were the first nomadic people - we left India and went to travel around the world and people then were not used to seeing travelling people.

"Maybe travelling is in our blood as we don't stop. But I think we were travelling to work, to find food, for the kids. The Gypsies were always very good at learning trades, at working with iron, with fire we could create a lot of things."

There's a famous quote from Nicolas about the band's success: "before we were famous the police were behind us. Now they stand in front of us." How is life in France for the Gypsy communities of Arles and Montpelier, the region the band hail from?

"In France it is better for us and our community," says Nicolas. "Our success has made life easy for everyone. But for the Gypsies who arrive in France from East Europe it is very, very hard. We see camps around Paris and it's sad. And the problems these Gypsies have with the police . . . it's the same as one hundred years ago."

For Gypsies there's not a lot of help from the state, from the police," adds Tonino. "We're always last in line when it comes to being looked after."

"We're like the Indians in America," says Patchai.

"Yet all we're looking for is having friendly relationships with the different cultures we exist in," says Nicolas with a weary shake of his head.

And do the band reach out to their East European brethren?

"We don't really speak the same language," says Diego, "so it's hard. But there's solidarity, sure. If we can do something to help, use our name, of course. We're Gypsies, we're travelling people."

"The Gypsy can be loud," adds Patchai, "can shout, but has an open heart. He won't leave you on the side of the road."

I'm currently reading Jan Yoors fabulous book Crossing; in it he chronicles his activities in France during WW2 as he travelled and worked with Romani communities as part of the Resistance. Pascal tells the band what the book is about and they all look at it. Diego declares the photo on the cover is of "Gypsies from Montpellier." I read out a Romani proverb from Crossing - "Zhan le Develsa tai sastimasa" ("Go with God and in good health") - and Nicolas laughs, familiar with it. Do the GK's have any idea how their families survived Nazi genocide - more than 15,000 French Romanies were murdered or deported to death camps by the Nazis and their Vichy accomplices.

"A lot of our uncles and families were lost," says Tonino, "but we were lucky to be in that place in South France. Our families knew how to go around those trails in the forests and around mountains. We got lucky. Many didn't get lucky. My grandfather was involved in the Resistance, he would smuggle people from one place to another."

Considering these Reyes and Baliardos are the first generation to be settled I wondered if they regretted at all giving up the old ways. All nod in unison.

"Life when we were young . . . living in Arles in a caravan," notes Nicolas, "it's an old Gypsy stronghold and there's still a camp there and the hippies used to come through and emulate our lifestyle, really, they admired us! That's how we were supposed to live and we would love to stop time and live that way again. When you live in caravans you all share good times and bad times, share food. We now live in houses and have different problems. Some of our community are jealous of our success. That could never have happened before. We shared everything. Today we're considered to have money so . . . jealousy. That's not our nature, we don't know how to fight this. We were supposed to live as one, to travel."I spent much of 2003 in the Balkans amongst Romani communities and was surprised to find the old traditions - nomadism, the kris (Gypsy council) gathering and such largely forgotten. Yet The Gypsy Kings, these multiplatinum superstars, tell me they have a large kris before every festival in Les-Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mar and pine for a life lived from caravans. And the sixth sense: do the Gypsies really possess it?

"There are a few in our communities who do," says Diego. "Only a few that have this vision. We travel so much that we get to know what life is, know how to read life."

And the indestructible spirit of the Romani people: where does it come from?

"We come from India originally and we have always been travelling together and through this we have a shared understanding," says Tonino.

Time's up and as we shake hands Diego says, "If you could give guitars instead of machine guns life would be much easier."

With thanks to Pascal Imbert for translation services.

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