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Special report
Gipsy Kings in Singapore
The never-ending summer
Singapore
29/03/2010 -
After warming up with Rumba Tec and Djobi Djoba, the Gipsy Kings took an exhilarating sprint through their œuvre with tracks like La Negra, Un Amor, Cuba, Ati Ati, A Tu Vera, Pharaon, Caminando por la calle, Tampa (a rare outing from the album Roots) and Pena Penita, demonstrating their impressive output since their debut Allegria (1982). They finished off the evening with Sabroso, the megahit Bamboleo and Volare for the encore. The Gipsy Kings were very much on form on the 26th March at the Timbre Rock and Roots Festival…
Gone midnight, the audience were in arm-waving mood, singing along with the choruses, while at the front a group of teenagers danced non-stop the concert. Behind, couples were swaying to the music as the seated audience gazed up at giant screens, nodding their heads to the music. It was a hot night, almost 30 degrees, and vendors were doing a swift trade in passion-fruit ice-cream and banana peanus. Around the Marina Bay, silhouettes of half-constructed skyscrapers reflected off the still waters of the harbour.
There’s was an air of eternal summer last Friday evening in Singapore. “The Gipsy Kings remind me of my college years, seven years ago,” says Fajrin. For Rafina, seeing the group is a real moment of discovery: “The Gipsy Kings are well known in Indonesia, their hits are often played on the radio, but I’d never seen them live before.” Both made the trip from Indonesia to see their favourite group Gugun & Blues Shelter who played the next day, as well as the Gipsy Kings, who have performed several times in the Indonesian capital.
Keeping one eye on the restless crowd on the other on the concert, a twenty-year-old security guard made sure he didn’t miss a moment of the Gipsy Kings. “I listened to my uncle’s CDs when I was a kid, he was a big fan of the Gipsy Kings. And now here they are in my home town!” John, a solid-looking man in his fifties, was a little more melancholic: the concert reminded him of a crazy night in December 1994 in Papeete, when the Gipsy Kings had played until four in the morning in the tiny Retro club: he’d even woken up his kids to witness the event. But for Suurjiyt, it could have been better: “I bought their album in 1989 when my boat stopped off in Australia, and I’ve been a fan ever since, without ever having seen them. And now I’m a little disappointed. They don’t seem to have the same energy on stage that I always felt in their songs.”
The Gipsy Kings have been a planetary success for over two decades, selling 18 million albums and performing hundreds of concerts across the globe. Each number is a gateway to another memory, and songs like Un Amor become the soundtrack of a moment, a life. As Nicolas, leader singer of the group, puts it: “People have a need to get together and feel the warmth of each other.”
The day after the concert, the Gipsy Kings flew off to Australia for the closing dates of their never-ending summer tour.
Interview with Nicolas and André Reyes of the Gipsy Kings RFI Musique: How many generations of the Gipsy Kings play on tour nowadays? What is the glue that keeps it all together? Are the audiences different in Asia, Europe and America? What makes the Gipsy Kings’ music popular almost everywhere? What has changed in the Gipsy Kings’ music between Allegria in 1982 and Pasajero in 2006 ? Don’t you get bored of playing Bamboleo every concert? |
Jean-François Danis
Translation : Hugo Wilcken
20/09/2000 -
04/01/2000 -
