Review

December, 19th 2016

The Gypsy Kings band operate since 1978 till today. In the nine years from the beginning of the active career, they have recorded 'Bamboleo' song which is internationally recognized hit. In 1987, it was released in the US and the year later it was released in the UK, both time in Spanish. The first release was done on cassette and the year later, it was done on CD because cassettes were already dying up. The 'Bamboleo' song has been done in the admixture of Rumba, Flamenco, and pop and it has various covers, mashups, potpourris, and remixes.
The Gypsy Kings who have performed it, have become very popular in their native country (which is France, by the way, not Spain or Mexico as many people could think). There is even a band of teenagers named Gypsy Teens follows the singing activity of Gypsy Kings episodically. In 2001, they did interesting version of the song and put it on YouTube. You can watch it here.
It turned out purely dancing pop video, the main advantage of which is just youth of the main characters. But it completely lost the mature charm and lusty passion of the original performance.
The song was covered also by Julio Iglesias, it was mixed up with Enrique Iglesias song 'Hero' and it is definitely one of the greatest hits of Gypsy Kings ever made. The original sound lasts three minutes and 25 seconds. Without any further doubts, we may call the Spanish version of this song a classical Flamenco Rumba thing that is perfectly suitable for the passionate dance alone or in the two. We don't think that there is such a person in the world who was born after 1990 who doesn't know this song, or at least, never heard it.
The most emphasis on this song is done on the guitar riffs. It makes this song absolutely distinctive fall off the limits of classical Rumba and flamenco.
Totally easy to be dissolved in the consonant sounds of this music. When listening to it, you imagine yourself in the head the perfect endless fields of olives, the nice Mediterranean wine, outstanding seafood and white-teeth waiter, who is ready to perform your every whim in this Spanish siesta that you have dreamt of for so many years.
There is some interesting data about the origin of the song:
From the Spanish, it is translated as ‘swaying’ or ‘changing’. The guy is singing that he likes to live how he lives and it leads to the swaying in his life to different opinions, to different roles, roads, and crossroads. This all can be called the great miracle of life. And the song isn't a performance from the scratch – it has the background. Actually two of them. The first one is the adaptation of the song called ‘Caballo Viejo’ from the Venezuelan language. The second is a Portuguese Brazilian origin – a song by Carmen Miranda. Julio Iglesias was covering this song, mixing it with the original source. So in his performance, it has own charm.
A singer in a song says there is nothing to blame due to his choice of the certain way of living. He had love in his life, he had the house, but sometimes everything can be changed and the only thing that you have to do in such moments is only to adopt the decision.
The lyrics in this song are not the most important thing. Much more precious is the passionate heat of dancing that is firmly put on the basis, in the very foundation. Reference: Learn more about Gypsy Kings and their Bamboleo song