Generations of traditional folk-flavored flamenco sounds take to the Basie stage on Wednesday, when The Gipsy Kings make a 25th Anniversary tour stop in the company of their sons’ new band.Â
Hard to believe that it’s the 25th Anniversary tour of the Gipsy Kings; in part because the Grammy winning band’s signature sound is so steeped in the traditions of flamenco, Afro-Cuban rhythms and Romani culture — but also because the performances by the veteran musicians of the Reyes and Baliardo clans have lost none of their “childlike lack of self-consciousness” despite multiple awards, movie and TV exposure, and record sales in excess of 25 million worldwide.
In actual fact, when the celebrated Mediterranean act takes the stage of the Count Basie Theatre on Wednesday, May 28, it will mark the silver jubilee of the Kings’ first US album. It will also spotlight sounds from the group’s most recent release Savor Flamenco — an all-original set that finds the Gipsy Kings writing all their material and producing themselves for the first time since the Reyes brothers first played professionally with their father Jose in the 1970s.
Together since the early 1980s, Nicolas Reyes and Tonino Baliardo will also be welcoming a very special opening act — Ole Noys, a next-gen group that features their sons Mickael Baliardo, Cosso Baliardo and Yohan Reyes, and offers up music that’s described as “a mixture of old gipsy folk songs mixed with the more contemporary sounds of today.”
Online ticket sales for the 8 pm show ($32.50 – $91.50) include a digital download of the Grammy winning Savor Flamenco, and can be reserved right here. Albums will be received post-show via the email address you provide when you purchase your tickets.
