Speaking Louder Than Words : The Fiery Gipsy Kings Want to Communicate Emotion Without Relying on Language

Along with making some of the most assertively passionate and unique music of the past decade, the Gipsy Kings are also a godsend for anyone who’s ever had problems getting song lyrics right--like those of us who heard the Four Tops’ “Bernadette” as “Burned to Death” or thought Zep’s Robert Plant was singing “Walnetto Woman, never bargained for you.”

According to the Kings’ Diego Baliardo--one of seven brothers and cousins who form the group--”In my opinion even when people can’t understand one word we sing, they can understand everything. It’s just a question of feeling the emotion. Because of the music and the way you give it to the audience, the words aren’t important at all. It’s our job, the job of an artist, to reach beyond language so that everybody can understand it.”

Baliardo and his younger cousin Andre Reyes spoke by phone Wednesday through their friend, personal manager and interpreter Francois Mattei. They spoke in French, while the group’s flamenco-bred music is sung largely in Spanish. Both cultures are reflected in the Gypsy heritage.

Usually adorned on record and in concert by modern rhythm sections and synthesizers, the heart of their music lies in the Kings’ assertive voices, strident acoustic flamenco guitars and hand claps, playing as they have in Gypsy camps all their lives. The group, fronted by lead singer Nicolas Reyes and first guitar Tonino Baliardo, consists of musicians who are all are sons or cousins of the late flamenco great Jose Reyes.

They range in age from 24 to 40, and all learned their craft performing at family occasions in Gypsy camps. Five years ago they went from that insular life to being international sensations with the success of the single “Bamboleo,” which hit the Top 10 in a dozen countries. Now they find their fiery music kicking up sparks in such disparate spots as Iceland and “The Tonight Show” studio. They’ll perform Saturday at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre.

While Andre, the youngest of the Gipsy Kings, said his life isn’t particularly different from that of any other young Frenchman, he conceded, “We do feel like maybe we’re not in the system so much.”

With their success, all the members except one have bought houses, though Baliardo stressed: “The houses are mostly in wild places, with horses. In the garden we all have our caravans, and when spring comes we all make the odyssey with our family. If tomorrow we had to sell the houses, it’s not important because we have our caravans, which is how most of our family still lives. We may sleep in houses, but it’s not where our heart is.”

Having that freedom is something that runs deep in their music, he said. “We don’t feel like everybody when it comes to work. To us, music is a passion, a life. For non-Gypsy singers or guitarists, many times if the money is not there, they have to change their life, to get a job. But the Gypsies, they don’t change their life. The music is really first a way of living. If it’s a success, that’s OK; if it isn’t, we go on doing it without money.”

Their global success has thrown them into some varied settings, from making videos with Sting to jamming with British classical violin virtuoso Nigel Kennedy.

In touring the States they have been booked into dance venues as well as sit-down concert halls. They make no bones about their preference.

“We want to see the people dancing,” Baliardo said. “Many times journalists ask why we don’t have a woman dancing on stage like we might have in a video. That’s because when we’re playing, it’s the audience’s part to be doing the dancing. The women in the theater are dancing, so we don’t need any onstage. It’s very important for us to see that.”

Baliardo also feels the Gipsy Kings’ success has affected their music.

“The first reason is we travel a lot, not just by caravans now, but by planes all over the world. We think we were doing what’s called ‘world music’ before that appellation was found, combining things we heard. Now, traveling around the world, we listen to many more kinds of music, so it is influencing us. A month ago we were in Brazil and we’re listening to lots of Brazilian music now. Maybe someday we’ll use it in our music.

“Second, we know after five years of success (that) the public knows us and we have to work to find new ways to surprise them.”

One way might be to reach back deeper to their roots. The group claims to be influenced by such modern acts as the Rolling Stones and Prince. It also has much older influences: Nicolas Reyes’ Arabic-inspired melismatic singing reveals the musical legacy of the Moorish invasion of Spain.

Before their pop fame, the Gipsy Kings recorded two purely acoustic albums (since reissued for the United States as one album called “Allegria”), and Baliardo thinks they may return to that campfire feel.

“I know some people say our old music (was more authentic), but it’s not for commercial reasons we chose to also use the modern instruments like the synthesizer. We’ve been making music together for a very long time, and we were trying to find inside the flamenco music something contemporary, a flamenco for everybody. We may want to return now to the music from the beginning, to maybe find something new with just the flamenco guitars and the voices. . . . “After five years (of international success), for the first time we are reflecting on our music. We are natural musicians and we’ve never before had (to do) very deep thinking about all this. The success is a reason to think about all these things,” Baliardo said, “because we don’t want to lose our roots.”

The Gipsy Kings play Saturday at 8 p.m. at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre, 8800 Irvine Center Drive, Irvine. $24.75 to $27.25. (714) 740-2000 (Ticketmaster).