Bamboleo — Gipsy Kings (1987)

Why it's in this book

It is one of February's three songs, the month of the Latin minor, together with Despechá and Flowers. It comes in through rumba: you do not play it in Year 7 or Year 9, and it is the style closest to the Spanish guitars in your classroom. In class we play it over the Andalusian cadence, A minor, G, F and E, the same falling chords you heard in Hit the Road Jack in Year 9 and will hear again in La Flaca this year. The record is in F sharp minor; in class we take it down to A minor. To be straight with you: only the intro of this song has been analysed, so part of the work is checking by ear how much of the record fits that cadence. In the room with no instruments you sing the "bamboleo" chorus in unison with rumba claps. With ukuleles, the four chords. In the music room the Spanish guitar plays the rumba strum and the soloists improvise over the cadence.

Why this song

You have probably heard it at a wedding, at a street party or in an advert, and sung the chorus without knowing what it was about. "Bamboleo" means swaying, wobbling. And that is what everyone does when it plays.

The odd thing is something else. It is one of the best-known Spanish-language songs in the world, and it is played by musicians born in France.

Historical context

The Gipsy Kings come from Arles, in the south of France. Their parents were Spanish gitanos, Spanish Romani, who had fled Spain during the Civil War. That is why they sing mostly in Spanish.

The group started as a family: the father, José Reyes, played with his sons. Reyes means "kings", hence the name. They played at weddings, parties and in the street. Their first two albums went almost unnoticed.

In 1987 they released their third album, named after the band. "Bamboleo" was on it. The album spent forty weeks on the US charts, something very few Spanish-language records had done.

Foto: Meghdad Madadi, CC BY 4.0, vía Wikimedia Commons

This is how the group sounds live: several guitars at once, all strumming, and someone singing on top. The photo is from a concert in Tehran, Iran, in 2016. Almost thirty years after the album, the song was still in the set.

The song did not come out of nowhere. It is a blend of two earlier songs. The verse comes from "Caballo viejo", by the Venezuelan Simón Díaz (1980). The chorus comes from "Bamboleô", a Brazilian song by André Filho from 1931. The Gipsy Kings took both, changed the lyrics and gave them their own rhythm.

Musical characteristics

Rumba. The style is called Catalan rumba: it was born among the gitanos of Barcelona, mixing flamenco with Cuban rhythms, and the Gipsy Kings took it around the world. Its trademark is the guitar. It does not just play chords: with the right hand, the guitarist strikes and mutes the strings on some strokes. That muted stroke sounds almost like a snare drum. It is a strum that works as harmony and percussion at once.

An intro that sways. According to Hooktheory, the intro stays on a single chord, F sharp minor, which keeps changing colour inside. It is a vamp: a base that repeats and waits for the voice to come in.

The Andalusian cadence. In class, the song rests on four chords that go down: A minor, G, F, E. Listen to the bass: A, G, F, E, four steps downwards. That descent is called the Andalusian cadence, and it is the harmony of flamenco. The last chord, E major, leaves the phrase hanging and asks to start again.

Many voices, one melody. The chorus is not sung in harmony: everyone sings the same melody at the same time. It is a unison, which is why any audience can sing along.

Transposing. The record is in F sharp minor. In class we take it down three semitones, to A minor, because there the chords fit on ukulele and Spanish guitar without a capo. If you want to play along with the record on guitar, put a capo on the second fret and play the E minor shapes: E minor, D, C, B.

Hard facts: F sharp minor on the record and A minor in class, 4/4, 120 beats per minute, 3:25.

Guided listening

Play the music video. In the intro, listen to the guitars. Try to separate two things: the notes of the chords and the dry, muted hits. Those hits are rumba's percussion.

When the voice comes in, listen to the bass. Does it step downwards? Count how many steps before it starts again.

When the chorus arrives, sing "bamboleo" with them. Is everyone singing the same melody, or are there different voices?

Look for the moments when a guitar plays melody instead of chords. What are the other guitars doing meanwhile? That base is what will hold up your solos in class.

Trivia and curiosities

• A French band singing in Spanish with melodies from Venezuela and Brazil. The song is a map: it shows how music travels between countries.

• The band's name is a translation: Reyes, the family surname, in English.

• One of the founders, Chico Bouchikhi, was French-Moroccan and married to a daughter of the Reyes father. He left the group in 1991.

• Julio Iglesias and Celia Cruz also recorded it, each in their own way. The chorus survives every change of style.

Classroom activities

• Rumba claps. Room with no instruments: half the class keeps the beat with their feet; the other half claps sharply on 2 and 4. On top, everyone sings "bamboleo" in unison.

• The cadence on ukulele. A minor, G, F, E, one chord per bar. Sing the lowest note of each chord while you play: A, G, F, E. That way you hear the descent.

• The rumba strum. Spanish guitar and guitalele, with the rumba tutorial in Resources: first only the muted strokes, on 2 and 4; then with the chords.

• Solo turns. Music room: the band keeps the Andalusian cadence going. Each soloist gets one full round with the notes of A minor. When you reach E major, try ending your phrase on G sharp.

• Check it. Listen to the record with a capo on the second fret and the E minor shapes (E minor, D, C, B). In which parts does the cadence fit, and in which does it not? Write it down: it is information nobody has checked yet.

Key vocabulary

• Catalan rumba — rumba catalana
• Strum — rasgueo
• Vamp — vamp: base que se repite y espera a la voz o al solo
• Andalusian cadence — cadencia andaluza
• Unison — unísono

Resources

Official music video

Guitar tutorial — Guitar Vibration (Piou d'Ambrosio). The song on guitar, in rumba style.

The rumba strum — Carlo Espresso. Three steps to learn the rumba flamenca strum. It works for this song and for any rumba.

Ukulele tutorial — Andy Ramos. To play along with the song.

Piano tutorial — La Tecla Música. The piano accompaniment, in Spanish and without sheet music.

Drums, played along — Pavel Rak. Not a lesson, but you can see how a rumba beat is played on a drum kit.

Bass, with tab — Darbass. The bass line with tab.

• Harmonic analysis (intro only) — Hooktheory: https://www.hooktheory.com/theorytab/view/gipsy-kings/bamboleo