Farewells are usually difficult, although if they are dressed for celebration they are more bearable. This is what Los Chichos, one of the flagship groups of gypsy rumba in our country, will do during the spring and summer of 2024. After 50 years on stage, the Madrid trio formed by the brothers Julio and Emilio González Gabarre, and the latter’s son, Emilio González García, who took the place vacated by Juan Antonio Jiménez Muñoz Jero in 1991, is saying goodbye in style with a concert tour of several Spanish cities (March 9, at the Palau Sant Jordi) which will serve to put an end to his long career.
“We’re leaving, they’re not kicking us out”, they say proudly to La Vanguardia, recalling that “we are the rumbers that have sold the most in history. Everyone can consult the sales”. Of course, the numbers are not deceiving: 22 million records sold, multiple gold and platinum records, and the record for being the musical group with the most recorded products. The fruits of a lifetime dedicated to music, which leave hymns such as Son ilusiones, Ni más ni menos or Quiero ser libre.
Los Chichos are part of the Spanish musical heritage and this is demonstrated by the affection that not only the public has for them, but also their professional colleagues. ” It fills you with pride. If something inflates your ego, it’s the respect our colleagues have for us. Everyone admires you and speaks to you with respect… Manolo Garcia or Sergio Dalma, who when he came to record Son ilusiones, a version for the Hasta aquí hemos llegado album, told us: ‘I’ve been nervous for three days because I’m going to sing with you’. A piece of Sergio Dalma! This is what we are left with”, they comment, knowing that they have been a source of inspiration for great names such as Antonio Orozco, El Barrio, Camela, Estopa or Ketama, among others.
The music industry has undergone great changes since they started their career in 1973, a time when YouTube and Spotify neither existed nor were expected. “For us, an artist is record sales. There came a time when with 10,000 copies you could already be a gold artist. But should an artist be valued for the reproductions he has on the internet, for the likes? There are people getting paid real fortunes to make a video, put it on Youtube, hit it big, be at the right time in the right place, and they can get paid three times more than us, who don’t complain… Al ·lucina! And not a single album sold. It’s not normal”, they reflect with a touch of indignation.
Of course, they know how to recognize art when they hear it and agree that Rosalía is a great example of musical innovation. “Rosalía has many detractors and we don’t understand why. we love it She was the first to do what she does, and she does it well. And besides, it’s very chicera”, they comment between laughs.
Another of the things that have changed in Spanish society in the last fifty years is the concept of diversity and globalization. It was not difficult for Los Chichos to stand out in music in years when the gypsy community was automatically associated with precariousness and marginalization, with no options for integration. “Paco de Lucía’s father, Antonio Sánchez, listened to us, and from there on up”, they admit, despite the fact that they are aware of the disadvantage from which, even today, those of their race start: “There there are many gypsies who make watermarks, but they are not known. Since the Catholic Monarchs, more than 500 years ago, there has been racism towards the gypsies”.
There is no doubt that Los Chichos have had the approval of the public during these five decades, but what do they have to say about the institutions? Have they shown support for the group’s artistic creation? “Unofficially, yes. There was a minister, whose name we will not say, who told us: ‘I grew up with your songs and I love them’. But they are the least. The bulk is in the neighborhoods, the people, the town”, they admit.
Fifty years of career gives for many ups and downs, as they themselves acknowledge, and for many memories that remain in the memory of these three geniuses. Like the day when, to the surprise of many, they performed at Primavera Sound and “we were the winners that year”. Or what they consider their best show, at the Sala Apolo in Barcelona, ??where “none of us wanted it to end, no one wanted to leave there either. The communion with the people made it a piece of concert”.
Los Chichos say goodbye in magnificence with “a legacy for all time. 100 years will pass and Los Chichos will continue to be heard”. As they say “being chicero is not a hobby, it’s a feeling”, and this is what will emerge, for sure, at the concerts with which they will say goodbye to their audience: feelings and emotions dressed in rumbas that, undoubtedly, are already part of of the musical history of our country.