Gipsy Kings featuring Tonino Baliardo
Bushnell Center for Performing Arts
Hartford
Nov. 7
There’s a difference between thinking you don’t know something, and knowing you don’t know something. I thought I was approaching the Gipsy Kings at the Bushnell the same way I go to every concert: I know the band’s name, and that’s about it. I thought I knew what I didn’t know. Yet as the evening unfolded, I was exposed to possibilities I hadn’t even considered.
When I saw the band’s name, I was expecting some kind of Scandinavian indie group like the Kings of Convenience. I didn’t realize the style of music until I was hearing flamenco blasted from the monitors outside the Bushnell.
Once I heard the music, I thought I knew everything I needed to. Until the band was introduced.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” the MC boomed, “hailing from Montpellier, please welcome the Gipsy Kings!”
Wait, but isn’t Montpellier in France? Or Vermont? Neither of those were places I expected flamenco bands to come from.
As it turns out, “Gipsy Kings” is not just a cool sounding name, but a reference to the Roma ancestry of the band’s original members. Their parents fled Spain during the Spanish Civil War and settled in southern France.
At that point, I decided to stop making assumptions all together. The music would tell me what I needed to know about the Gipsy Kings.
The first song that I recognized in the set was a cover of “Hotel California.” The rendition mixed Spanglish (or should I say Catalanglish?) lyrics, flamenco rhythms and the gravelly vocals of Tonino Baliardo. Of course I’d heard “Hotel California” before, but I didn’t realize until later that I’d heard this specific version of it in The Big Lebowski.
But! I’m not an uncultured American who only knows songs with English in them. I also recognized “Baila Me,” a high energy song with a simple message:
Dance, dance, dance, dance
Dance, dance, dance with me
And dance the audience did. I’ve never seen the Bushnell as lit as it was for the Gipsy Kings.
The audience skewed a little bit older, but it was clear that everyone there was reliving their youth.
The row in front of me was filled with seven friends who came together. They were on their feet as soon as the show began, singing along, dancing and only stopping long enough to take a sip from their cups.
The aspect I enjoyed the most about the show was the Gipsy Kings’ dedication to showing off their chops. Each band member was given a chance to shine in their own solos multiple times throughout the evening. The loudest applause from the audience came when Boliardo held his notes for an impossible amount of time — and then kept going. The guitarists made a point to show how fast they could strum their acoustic guitars, and then kept going faster and faster, until their fingers were blurs moving across the strings. The performance wasn’t just a celebration of music, but also how they played the music.
The music and the performance were outstanding, as one might expect from a band that has been touring the world for over almost 50 years. I left with an appreciation for flamenco, but also so many questions about the history of Spain, France and the mix of historic forces and personal choices that led to such a unique band’s existence. Good music and good questions make a good night in my book.
NEXT
The Bushnell Center for Performing Arts presents An Evening With: Aaron Tveit on Nov. 8.
Jamil finally, for real this time (probably) goes to Black Eyed Sally’s.
