Gipsy Kings

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The Gipsy Kings are a group of French gypsy (gitane) musicians, best known for bringing rhumba flamenca, a pop-oriented version of traditional flamenco music, to mainstream audiences.

Their debut recordings were "Djoba Djoba", "Bamboleo" and "Volare" (a rhumba version of domenico Modugno's Italian hit "Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu"), which were enormously popular in France despite harsh criticism from flamenco purists. Gipsy Kings was successful throughout the continent, especially France and England. In 1989, Gipsy Kings was released in the US and it spent 40 weeks on the charts, one of very few Spanish language albums to do so. Other albums include Estrellas, Mosaique, Love & Liberte and Este Mundo.

The Gipsy Kings are members of two related families: the Reyes and the Baliardos (Reyes means Kings in Spanish). They are cousins, and the Baliardos descend from the flamenco great Manitas de Plata. The Gipsy Kings are:

Nicolas Reyes - lead vocals
Pablo Reyes - backup vocals, guitar
Canut Reyes - backup vocals, guitar
Patchai Reyes - backup vocals, guitar
Andre Reyes - guitar
Diego Baliardo - guitar
Paco Baliardo - guitar
Tonino Baliardo - lead guitar

Chico Bouchikhi was also a member of the Gipsy Kings, but quit after the album Este Mundo.

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