Baila Me!

The music of the Gipsy Kings might be rooted in flamenco tradition, but don’t for a second think the dancing will be reserved to stage performances and audience foot-tapping this Thursday night at the American Airlines Arena. For the Grammy Award-winning Kings, rhythm runs in the family and tradition is...

By Patrice Elizabeth Grell Yursik

February 12, 2009

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The music of the Gipsy Kings might be rooted in flamenco tradition, but don’t for a second think the dancing will be reserved to stage performances and audience foot-tapping this Thursday night at the American Airlines Arena. For the Grammy Award-winning Kings, rhythm runs in the family and tradition is meant to be reinvented. This ain’t your abuela’s flamenco. Their music is like a wall of sound, collectively produced by guitars, percussion, and traditional handclapping. Raw flamenco, jazzy guitar, strains of Arabic music, plus the influences of Latin rhythm, Cuban pop, and reggae fuse together, leaving the crowd with no other choice. They leave their seats behind and dance in the aisles. The Kings broke big in the late 1980s, when the world-music wave brought the band Stateside success. Hit songs such as “Bamboleo” and “Djobi Djoba” needed no translation to move a crowd. Their cover versions of “Volare” and “Hotel California” — which found its way into many a hipster’s heart after making it onto The Big Lebowski soundtrack — won the bandmates English-speaking fans. Fifteen albums and two decades on the scene, and the Gipsy Kings still reign supreme. Find out why at 8 p.m.
Thu., Feb. 12, 8 p.m., 2009

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