Baliardo performing in 2012 Antoine "Tonino" Baliardo is a French guitarist of Spanish Gitano descent. He is the lead guitarist for

Gipsy Kings Gipsy Kings are a group of flamenco, salsa, and pop musicians from Arles and Montpellier in southern France, who perform mostly in Catalan but also mix in Spanish with southern French dialects. Although the group members were born in France, t ...

, a

New Flamenco New flamenco (or ''nuevo flamenco'') or flamenco fusion is a musical genre that was born in Spain, starting in the 1980s. It combines flamenco guitar virtuosity and traditional flamenco music with musical fusion (with genres like jazz, blues, roc ...

group from France that has sold more than 18 million albums worldwide. He was born in

Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...

. He is the nephew of guitarist

Manitas de Plata Ricardo Baliardo (7 August 1921 – 5 November 2014), better known as Manitas de Plata, was a flamenco guitarist of Spanish Gitano descent born in southern France. Despite achieving worldwide fame, he was criticized for not following certain rh ...

. Most Gipsy Kings albums have between three and five instrumental cuts - all written by Baliardo; he also co-writes their vocal numbers. After his 2001 solo debut, ''Essences,'' Baliardo released an instrumental album under his homonimus name in 2003, of his own originals. "Tonino is the most creative person in the band," said

Chico Bouchikhi Jalloul "Chico" Bouchikhi ( ar, جلول البوشيخي; born 1954 in Arles) is a musician and a co-founder of the Gipsy Kings. He later left the Gipsy Kings and founded Chico & the Gypsies. Early life Bouchikhi was born in Arles to a Moroc ...

, a former member who co-wrote their biggest hit to date, "

Bamboléo "Bamboléo" is a 1987 Spanish language song by Romani people in Spain, Gitano-French band Gipsy Kings, from their Gipsy Kings (album), eponymous album. The song was written by band members Tonino Baliardo, Chico Bouchikhi (J. Bouchikhi) and Nicol ...

". "He has lots of ideas and a great imagination. He used to go to school with his guitar." Baliardo, like his bandmate Nicolas Reyes, does not read or write

musical notation Music notation or musical notation is any system used to visually represent aurally perceived music played with instruments or sung by the human voice through the use of written, printed, or otherwise-produced symbols, including notation fo ...

Solo discography

* ''Essences'' (2001) * ''Tonino Baliardo'' (2003)

References

* ''

Tierra Gitana (Gipsy Ground) ''Estrellas'' is the seventh studio album by the Gipsy Kings released in 1995 in Europe and a year later in the United States, under the title ''Tierra Gitana''. Overview The present album was later released as ''Tierra Gitana'' for the America ...

,''

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

, 1995.

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Baliardo, Tonino Flamenco guitarists Gipsy Kings members Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Musicians from Montpellier Romani guitarists

Solo discography

See also

References

External links