Diego Baliardo's Gipsy Kings in Herceg Novi on August 4 - the Bamboléo founder with his own line-up at Kanli Kula

The Gipsy Kings in Diego Baliardo's version play Kanli Kula in Herceg Novi on August 4. The show is part of the twentieth Guitar Art Summer Fest, starts at 9 pm, and tickets are 5,900 dinars through tickets.rs.

The story of this group is the story of two Roma families from southern France, the Reyes and the Baliardos, from Arles and Montpellier. When old Reyes died in 1979, Nicolas and Tonino started playing together, literally on the streets of Cannes, at weddings and celebrations. Eight years later came Bamboléo, a song they sold worldwide without any advertising budget that could explain the success, and after it Djobi Djoba, Volare and Un Amor.

What rarely gets written in the announcements is that the band does not exist as one body. The 2014 split was dramatic and ended up in courtrooms and French press headlines. Today there are two legitimate formations, one around Nicolas Reyes, the other around Tonino Baliardo, while Diego Baliardo, one of the founders, leads his own. An audience buying a ticket for the Gipsy Kings in 2026 needs to know exactly who they are hearing.

Diego was in the original line-up that made Bamboléo, which means this is not a tribute band but an offshoot from the root. The rumba flamenca they broke through with remains the same music: fast, rhythmic, with six guitars playing against four and a sound so distinctive it is recognised from the first bar even today.

The Kanli Kula fortress above Herceg Novi is one of the more beautiful open-air stages on the Adriatic coast, and the festival marks its twentieth season this year. Tickets are 5,900 dinars, on sale through tickets.rs.