Gipsy Kings - Roots Remixes

I remember the first time that I heard the Gipsy Kings. I was on the dancefloor at Maximum Security in Montréal and the DJ dropped the Album version of Bamboleo. The floor went crazy. Since then, I have spun Bamboleo many times for my own floors. It always moves my crowd.

That being said, I was looking forward to reviewing this 3-track CD of remixes from the Gipsy Kings latest release on the Nonesuch label, entitled Roots. All mixes are credited to Eugene Hutz, Orankaplan and Rea Mochiach. The remixes are not named on the Promo Only copy that about.com received and are only distinguished by track name.

The first track, Rhythmic, is around 100 beats per minute. This mix is mostly a dub and reminded me a bit of what on-U Sound and Adrian Sherwood would turn out if asked to mix this track. Not for most dancefloors, but nice, chill listening material, for sure.

Track 2, Aven, has classic-sounding Gipsy Kings vocals. However, the backing track, a mixture of hand claps and synth stabs, sounds forced. It reminded me of the backing track of Get Busy by Sean Paul, sped up to about 120 beats per minute. Not pretty and somewhat monotonous after only 4 minutes. DJs beware: there’s no break at the end at all.

Track 3, Petite Noya, is an accordion-based song with a pseudo house beat behind it.

I was disappointed with this package. It would be great to see the Gipsy Kings and their record label approach some of the excellent crop of up-and-coming remixers out there and hear what they come up with. It will certainly be better than this lackluster set of remixes.