Gipsy Kings April 16 2004 London

[compagnito]

The USA are in for a treat with the Gipsy Kings tour, the Festival Hall in London was rocking.

The show started at 7.45pm, a precussionist walked on stage and started to hammer out a booming rythym on the Cajon, then the Gipsy Kings emerged in line across the stage furiously strumming "Rythmic" from the new album "Roots" - highly recomended.

There followed a set mostly of songs from the new album, with an instrumental by Tonino from the "Ami Wa Wa?" album - you know the one. The band had two percussionists a bass player - mostly stand up, and a keyboard player. I thought the keyboard ruined a Tonino piece, my wife disagreed saying it was a show - not a recital.

Tonino looked in full control, less shy than when I first saw them way back. Tuning was done in seconds, I think he lowered the bass a couple of times, - twang twang twang then straight into the song - no pissing about - no changing guitars. Really the street sound of Provence on stage.

The group looked confident but questioning- towards the end the old favourites were launched, Patchai encouraged audience participation, result bopping in the aisles, singing, clapping.

At this stage the GK's looked very much in their element - they seemed to me at least to prefer the raucous over their earlier unplugged, but all was delivered with perfection.

Don't miss it.

[rumbamaster]

Sounds like fun. Were The Gipsy Kings playing their Cordoba signature model guitars or did they play something else? Were the guitars mic'ed or were they using the piezo? I'm going to try and catch them when they come over here.

[compagnito]

One or two were playing the Cordoba's I think - with the cutaway?

They were not mic'ed therefore using the piezo I assume.

Strongly recomend you buy "Roots" before you see them.

Really great gig.

By the way I saw Bob Dylan in November......................

[NGiorgio]

Hey Rumbamaster, how is it going? Still playing the GVR negra?

I also enjoy the Gipsy Kings.

[rumbamaster]

Hey NGiorgio. Yeah I still have my GVR negra and I love it. After trying a dozen strings I've finally settled on the La Bella 2001 Classical Strings Hard Tension. They seem to be the best fit for my negra. They're just a little brighter than normal and that works well for my negra. The only proplem I'm having now is the tension. I love the sound, feel and attack of hard tension but after playing 4-5 gigs a week on top of my daily practice schedule, it is starting to take a toll on my hands. Lately I've switched to medium tension (which I don't like as much) but it gives me a break on my hands. Has this happened to anyone else? Hopefuly I can recover a little bit and switch back soon.

[NGiorgio]

I am still experimenting with strings on the GVR blanca. Have not found the correct balance for it yet. Basses working just right with trebles. I have switched to lighter gauge strings on all of my guitars except for the cedar top negra. That one is next for a medium gauge set. I find that not much in volume is lost and the ease of playing is worth the tradeoff.

Almost bought a used GVR negra. A '97, built as a Antonio Marin Montero. Price was right but it needed a re-polish and I didn't want to deal with the hassle of shipping back to Rubio etc. Spoke with Armand, (I think it was Armand) at the shop. Can't believe only $600. for a re-polish. Really didn't need another guitar. Going to try to sell a couple of my guitars before getting anything new. Not my GVR, though.

Another thing that I noticed with lower tension strings is my guitars seem to sound more "flamenco". I will probably alternate back and forth with different tensions just for the fun of it.

Are you still looking for a new Gerundino blanca?

[rumbamaster]

Ngiorgio. Some of Rubio's older guitars are some of the best I've ever heard. A friend of mine has a '96 Santos copy and the tone is phenomenal. If he would ever sell it (which he would rather die then sell), I would buy it from him in a heartbeat, re-finished or not. Rubio's prices seem to be going up. Pretty soon all his guitars will be in the 4-5 thousand dollar range. Get them while you can! I defintley want to buy a Rubio Blanca but I'm in the same boat as you. I have to sell a few other guitars first. But never my Rubio!

[NGiorgio]

Maybe I'll have to reconsider that used negra. Do you know if GVR was building by himself in the mid to late 90's? It seems that he has a lot of help in the shop these days.

There is a new Gerundino blanca on a website at a very good price. It is Xguitars.com if you are interested. Check it out.