Gipsy Kings frontman Andre Reyes hails Turkish audience: It feels like home in Türkiye

By Omer Faruk Yildiz

ISTANBUL (AA) - Andre Reyes, the frontman of the legendary Flamenco music group Gipsy Kings, praised Turkish audiences and said he feels at home in Türkiye.

"We love the Turkish audience very much. They also love us very much," Reyes told Anadolu before the band played a concert Tuesday at Istanbul's Zorlu PSM as part of Piu Entertainment's 10th Anniversary Concerts.

"We are very close to the Turkish audience. They love to dance, smile and have a cheerful mood," he said.

Reyes said the group has been in Türkiye several times and their concert tickets were sold out. The group is also performing on Sept. 20 in the Mediterranean province of Antalya.

The Istanbul concert featured Andre Reyes, Thomas Reyes, Kakou Reyes, Joseph Cortes and Mario Reyes.

Reyes said the band is recognized worldwide even though it does not make music in English.

"The fact that Spanish is one of the most spoken languages after English definitely has an effect on our popularity, but I think what makes us world-renowned is that our music touches everyone and fascinates people," he said.

Reyes said the band is not completely detached from the English language. "Our interpretation of the songs Hotel California and My Way with our own adaptations attracted great attention, but what makes us popular is the emotional impact our music creates," he said. "Gipsy Kings became a recognized brand all over the world."

The Gipsy Kings was formed in 1978 by members of the nomadic community who fled Spain during the civil war in the 1930s and settled in the south of France. The band became world-renowned after the release of their self-titled album in 1987.

Hit singles Djobi Djoba, Bamboleo and Un Amor stayed on the US charts for 40 weeks, making it one of the longest-running Spanish-language singles on the charts.

The group then began to cover English songs and gained acclaim by reinterpreting songs such as I've Got No Strings, Hotel California and My Way as Catalan rumba.

The ensemble has been nominated for five Grammys and received important awards for their albums Love and Liberte, which was released in 1993 and Savor Flamenco in 2013.

In the 2010s, the group split and became Gipsy Kings by Andre Reyes, Gipsy Kings featuring Nicola Reyes and Gipsy Kings featuring Tonino Baliardo.

Gipsy Kings, featuring Nicola Reyes, performed concerts in Istanbul and Ankara in June.