The Best of the Gipsy Kings

The Gipsy Kings are from the gypsy settlements in Arles, and Montpelier, in the south of France. The group began back in the 1970s and is made up of singers and guitarists from the Reyes and Baliardo families. Lead singer Nicolas Reyes is the son of famed Flamenco singer José Reyes. Their music really took-off in 1986 when they began to work with record producer Claude Martinez. The band's trademark is the indigenous music called the rumba flamenco, with its frenetic guitar work and passionate vocals. The rumba - which originated in Africa - traveled from Zaire via the slave trade to Cuba and the New World, then back to Barcelona, where it was adopted by the Gypsies.

The group sings in gitane, a dialect mixing French, Spanish, and Catalan. "The Best of the Gipsy Kings" is an 18-track, single CD that includes much of their finest work. Cuts like "Djobi, Djoba," "Bem, Bem, Maria," "Escucha Me," and "Baile Me," will literarily move you - your feet, then your hands and shoulders...you just have to dance to this music. The dramatic "Viento del Arena" is pure sound of Spain with a gypsy touch. The mournful "Triste Pena," and "Amor" are ballads with roots plainly in flamenco. And "Volare" is a classic, with a slightly different take - gypsy style.

I have yet to hear anything that I do not like from the Gipsy Kings. There is only music that I love, and music that I like very much. This CD is a compilation of the best of the best!

Its not a question of being a purist - the discussion in spain between traditional and new flamenco consists of issues like 'is it ok to use a saxophone in bulerías ?' or 'is modern singers sounding to much like camarón?'

Now if you dont know who camarón was or what bulerías is then you dont know anything at all about flamenco!