Why are some of the GKs guitars strung upside down?
The Gipsy Kings all grew up playing the guitar, but they couldn’t all afford to have their own. Thus, the younger Reyes brothers (Nicolas and André had to use their older brothers’ (Canut’s and Paul’s) guitars. Unfortuantely, Nicolas and André are left-handed, where their older brothers are not. When the younger brothers restrung the guitars for themselves, they received beatings from their older siblings. Thus, it became easier for them to learn to play their older brothers’ guitars upside-down. • Where, exactly, do the GK live? The Gipsy Kings hail from Provence, in the south of France. The Reyes brothers live in and around Arles, with their families. The Baliardos live in Montpelier. • What type of guitars/drums/keyboards do the GK use? Right now, the Gipsy Kings use Còrdoba guitars. • How do they manage to clap so fast? The rhythmic clapping is a technique called palmas. One clapper claps on the beat, the other on the off-beat. Thus, together, they can clap twice as fast as either
