Volare! Very Best Of The Gipsy Kings CD (2000) (CD)

The Gipsy Kings'work has made them one of the top-selling pop-flamenco ensembles in the world. But this band of brothers and their cousins didn't start off that way. The group was created when an offshoot of the family ensemble Los Reyes joined with three cousins from the Bailardo family. Together, these relatives from the South of France were wandering minstrels, speaking primarily the Gitane gypsy dialect. They began adding influences from North Africa and South America, and suddenly found themselves on music charts all across Europe. Thanks to strong albums and hit songs like their 1987 single "Bamboleo" -- which got fresh exposure in an ad campaign for Burger King last year -- the group has also become the biggest-selling French ensemble in the United States. "The rhumba and flamenco is something they learned themselves," says manager Pascal Imbert. "It's like coming from Africa, they then went to Cuba and came back through Spain, and they saw the girls dance the rhumba. They said, 'This is good music.' And then the Kings developed that style and added more rock elements by bringing drums, bass and keyboard." The band comprises lead singer Nicolas Reyes, the son of famed flamenco singer José Reyes; singers and guitarists Canut, Pablo and Patchai Reyes; and Diego, Paco and Tonino Bailardo. As the band's work developed, its music has evolved into what Imbert calls a kind of a rhumba-flamenco. They use their own unique language, as well -- a combination of Catalan Spanish, a French patois, and the gypsy dialect of southwest France. Drawn from a 9-album discography that has proven one of the most durable artist catalogs in the genre, this new compilation expands on their single-disk "Best of" from 1995 adding newer material along with a richer harvest of earlier tunes.