Ricardo -> RE: Gipsy Kings split up? (Aug. 7 2023 17:03:43)
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ORIGINAL: Miguel de Maria Ey Ricardo, I just saw that you posted this--a while back! Thanks for posting those vids, sorry I missed them. We just saw the Nicholas group on Friday here in Arizona. I decided to go with Nicholas since it's his voice that graces most of the big songs, after all. I was pleasantly surprised with his singing, as I had some fears that his voice might be diminished. But he sounded pretty good--like himself, at least. Whoever did sound for the show, unfortunately, didn't really have a clue as to how to mix the band. The guitars were barely audible, and the bass just sort of bloomed into a big mush. The lead guitarist (slender, young-looking dude, kind of held his guitar like an upright bass), was very clear, though, which was nice, because I liked his stuff. He has pretty good chops and some nice licks. It was really weird to see the band split up like this though. Every time I had seen them in the past, they had the old lineup (minus Chico, I guess...), maybe with a few young guys sprinkled in. And there was one time that Mario Regis was there instead of Tonino.There was a bit of a sense that it was a cover band, like the Australian Pink Floyd or the Fab Four, except with the weirdness of Nicholas actually being there! I ran into him and a couple of the guys in the lobby the next morning. He looked really tired! I guess he gave it his all, because he seemed fine on stage (or maybe he partied too hard, it was at a casino, after all). I briefly thanked them for the show as I walked by, and they were cool about it. About sound. In the old days, if you ever caught a tv program or something with all those guitars, it was a mess compas wise. The Live concerts require a reduction of rhythm guitar sound to ONE GUY mainly, sometimes two. Pablo was the best or tightest player and drives the rhythm sound (Patchai was the other whose guitar was actually “on” LOL). Without his rhythm guitar, I must admit whatever the group has going will be questionable final results. The lead guitar has to necessarily have a hot signal, and typically doesn’t do the heavy compas strum sound because balance can be a big problem. ONly the loud tresillos and accents. So those other 6 rhythm guitars are for visual show with low or zero volume. The irony is in my small combos locally people are impressed that we “sound like a big 7 guitar group like the gypsy kings” with only two guitars. But that is truly how the sound is made. You add 3rd and 4th guitars and just a hair different soniquete makes a mush of the compas. About the “cover band” situation, yes this extends to big rock groups too. Two 50 years tours I saw recently, Priest and Journey. Priest has the “voice” so, it is like Halford’s own band. Journey has the karaoke singers copying Steve perry for decades. Truth is, the drummer Deen Castronovo is truly great singing but they only give him one song (the hardest of course). The DVD I purchased “Neal Schon journey through time” features Deen and it is WAY better than Journey the actual band. So yes, this is a reality of music world we live in today.
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