LALLOUZ INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE

ELYAHOU LALLOUZ: For you to see all of this hatred in the world today between Palestinians, Israelis, Bush's war on Iraq... what do you have to say to the upcoming youth? A little advice you can give.

CHICO: Without pretension, the advice I would give them: ‘do not get sucked into the whirlpool’ and do not try to live by the concept of ‘blow for blow’. You must get to know the other person. You need ‘respect for oneself and others’. And if there is a real respect that is established, there can be a life of happiness to be shared by everyone.

ELYAHOU LALLOUZ: If you could talk a little bit about UNESCO.

CHICO: In 1996, I was named ‘Artist for Peace’. My mission is to spread peace throughout the world with manifestations that I create, and others that I attend. I try to help in my own way... ‘to bring sunshine to places where there is none’.

LALLOUZ INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE takes you inside El Patio in a recorded Exclusive Interview with Jahloul Bouchikhi aka CHICO: a man who has impressed millions upon millions of fans over the last twenty years through the sensation of Gypsy music. An opportunity to share in his brother Ahmed’s tragic assassination of a ‘mistaken identity’ scenario at the error of the State of Israel’s Mossad, known as Norway’s 1973 ‘Lillehammer Affair’... right down to ‘setting the record straight’ with a detailed account that led to the breakup of the 80’s iconic ‘Gipsy Kings’ which he’d founded years earlier.

by Elyahou Lallouz

TEAM LALLOUZ (from l to r): LIM Editress-in-Chief Contessa Rhonda von Sternberg, LIM MEDIA Videographer Amadeus Lallouz, LIM Junior Copy Editress Chanel Emmanuelle Lallouz, and LIM Publisher Elyahou Lallouz pictured with Chico & The Gypsies leader, Chico Bouchikhi at El Patio in Arles, France.

INTERVIEW BOUND

LIM Exclusive Interview with Elyahou Lallouz

LIM Publisher and Cofounder, Elyahou Lallouz invites you to meet UNESCO's ‘Special Envoy for Peace’ in a candid ‘tête-à-tête’ that sheds some light upon Bouchikhi’s trials and tribulations -- a winding road that inevitably found its way back to the ranks of success with his own band CHICO & THE GYPSIES.

Just a few minutes into the interview, Chico feels quite comfortable to share his story with LIM Publisher Elyahou Lallouz.

ELYAHOU LALLOUZ: You look much better than you did in Spain... when we last saw each other.

CHICO: That wasn’t me. It was a fraud who passes himself off as me.

ELYAHOU LALLOUZ: That’s unbelievable! A good explanation why he never went through with the interview.

CHICO: His name is Jose Luis Castillo. He was already charged in France, and there are two additional charges against him still. ‘He used the breakup of the Gipsy Kings to profit and to trick people into believing he’s me’.

ELYAHOU LALLOUZ: You touch people’s hearts... and that’s ‘very-very’ important to me. To start, tell us about El Patio.

CHICO: This is a place I started fourteen years ago. I made it into a big Hacienda ‘Gypsy-style’ place from the ruins of an old factory that had been abandoned for twenty years. I was lucky to notice this land because I lived not too far from here.

Seeing that I had a collection of Gypsy trailers, at first, I just wanted to create an authentic Gypsy camping site... ‘just for myself and friends, just to come and enjoy’. Then I realized that there were buildings on the cadaster. So I thought it would be a good idea to rebuild them in case it rained, we would have somewhere to take shelter... And one idea led to another. Little by little, we did this project, which really didn't start out as a big project.

ELYAHOU LALLOUZ: Does he perform?

CHICO: Yes, he sings... like all Gypsies, ‘Bomboleo’, etc. It’s incredible that there are parasites like him who get away with things like that. ‘They say that when there are copies, it’s because the original is not bad!’ (Chico laughs heartily. I agree that the original ‘is’ better.)

EL PATIO

ELYAHOU LALLOUZ: You created strong roots for this place.

CHICO: Exactly. And today it's extraordinary that this place is dedicated to celebrations. People come from all over to host their celebrations here. It has a great spirit. It's very congenial and festive. What's great is that at the same time, it's also a school for musicians for Gypsy music. Many come to perfect themselves, and others to discover. We allow some of them to perform in front of a live audience. There have been many discovered talents that started right here.

THE BOUCHIKHI FAMILY

ELYAHOU LALLOUZ: You come from a Moroccan background?

CHICO: I'm a cultural mosaic... born in Arles, France... Moroccan father, Algerian mother... I married a Gypsy girl. ‘So in the beginning, I had everything going for me not to succeed’!

ELYAHOU LALLOUZ: What do you have to share about this region?

CHICO: Camargue is extraordinary. We were able to launch our careers because la Camargue is an incredible, inspirational region. Our families have always lived here, mine and the Reyes. It's a magical place... Camargue. There's this whole attitude of freedom; the bulls, the horses, all the different décor, the people that live here... and when we're born somewhere like here, ‘like you said before’... when the roots are strong, everything blooms like flowers, beautiful flowers.

CHICO: For me, the base started with the Reyes family, whom I was already with before the success of The Gipsy Kings in 1987. We’d been making music together for fifteen years... and before the music, we were all friends. I was playing with their father, Jose Reyes and the band Los Reyes. The father and I continued on our own and recorded under the name of Los Reyes.

And one day I had the idea... ‘the Reyes family had the voice’, but they didn't have the guitar. ‘The Baliardo family (from Montpellier) had the guitar’, but not the voice. So I went to the Baliardos, and I united the two families. And that's were the true marriage of guitar and voice came to be... The Gipsy Kings.

At this time, I realized that our name had to be changed ‘from Los Reyes to The Gipsy Kings’ ...because our music was international. We didn't have the success yet, but we were doing performances and private parties all over the world. They would send private planes to fly us, and we weren't even known.

ELYAHOU LALLOUZ: How did you get this blend of music... to where it is now with Chico & The Gypsies?

On some level I realized that our music was international. People weren’t speaking our language, but they shared the same feelings toward our music as we did. One day I said ‘we need an international passport’. With the name ‘Los Reyes’, as long as we didn't step outside of our region, it was okay. But when we would travel, people would ask us, "You're Los Reyes from... Paraguay? Spain?" It was hard for them to pinpoint. So I said, ‘we need a name’. Then I had a revelation... that in English, The Gipsy Kings translated to the same thing as Los Reyes. ‘Gypsy’ stood for Gitan, and Reyes for ‘Kings’.

And the name was very important, because when we had the success of 'Bamboleo' and 'Djobi, Djoba', the name ‘Gipsy Kings’ had more of an international ring to it. When we were on the international charts, you would hear Michael Jackson, Madonna, The Gipsy Kings, Sting... it worked. And ‘Los Reyes’ just didn't cut it, even though the music was the same. I was doing marketing without even knowing it.

BRIGITTE BARDOT WITH CHICO

ELYAHOU LALLOUZ: The reason for The Gipsy Kings break-up... was it about money? Or something else?

CHICO: It was simply the producers. It wasn't just money, but it was ‘money’ and the ‘producers’. We did two albums, 'Bamboleo' and 'Mosaique'. We already had gold and platinum records worldwide, yet we didn't have the revenue to correspond with that success.

I, who always sort of managed the group, asked the producers ‘to see the books’... because we were never ever shown the accounting. He agreed. But because we were working a lot at that time, and having success everywhere, it would come to mind every so often.

‘It wasn't possible’... we were doing sold out concerts in the United States, and he said ‘it was for promotion’. So there was a problem. Then we went to Italy to do a concert. By chance, I saw 'Bamboleo' being used in a commercial for Fiat on television. So I confronted him, and told him that I saw the advertisement... and asked what it was all about? He answered, "No, they're just doing publicity for the concert."

I let it go. But three months later, the commercial was still running. At that point, ‘I knew there was a problem’. So his response to me was, "They gave us $50,000." But I knew that there was more to the story. At this point, I became ‘very’ suspicious. And from that moment on, ‘I was killed musically in the group’.

I sent an amicable lawyer's letter demanding to see the accounting of the band. The other lawyer asked that I meet with him in Paris, along with the whole group. He then said to us that there were a lot of accounting problems. And another concern was that the producers would try to divide the group once we started procedures... ‘And that they would blame me!’

He predicted this six months before it actually happened. Back then, the whole group said, "No problem. We also want to see the accounting." So I said, "Let's go for it... start the procedures." And it turned out to be fatal. Afterwards, the producer met with me at his office and asked, “Why are you doing this?”

I replied, "Why am I doing this? I just want to know the accounts." Then he told me, "We'll work it out... together."

Do you believe this? So I said, "What do you mean we'll work it out? That's my family. We won't work it out together! I just want to see the numbers." And then he did exactly what my lawyer said he would do... he started dividing the group, until he fired me.

He chose a moment that was difficult, because ‘it was the moment we were at our highest point’. The group was tired, and each ego was inflated because of the success. And he manipulated the circumstance. It took six months. I wasn’t paying much attention.

Now, when I look back at the videos of the period that The Gipsy Kings were together, ‘we were like little lambs’, not ready for any of it. And now, when I see those videos, ‘I understand why they ate us. We were naive, just like a lot of musicians are’.

In 1991, the ‘original’ Gipsy Kings split up. They still exist. But they didn’t want to make peace. So we finalized. In essence, ‘they kept the name... And I kept the soul’.

ELYAHOU LALLOUZ: And this is your family...

CHICO: Yes, they are my brothers-in-law.

ELYAHOU LALLOUZ: No doubt it affected the whole family?

CHICO: For a long time it affected the family... it’s normal it would. There was a lot at stake in the game. But the problem was ‘that deep down, it hurt me’. Not because they threw me out, but it’s similar to a couple... when one doesn't want to be with the other, that’s acceptable. But to say that the problems that existed were my fault... ‘that hurt me’. All my life, I tried to boost the group to the people, to give a beautiful image. ‘It’s only normal that it began to deteriorate’.

ELYAHOU LALLOUZ: And since... have things gotten better between you?

CHICO: With the singer Nicolas Reyes, it's okay. As for the others, everybody leads their own lives. The battle lasted for a long time... fifteen years. The irony is that ‘I created the name Gipsy Kings, and I lost it in the courts’. I found myself all alone in front of an industry, amongst the people.

A lot of them said, "He's not a Gypsy." And a lot of others things came out that were unpleasant. It wasn't nice. But I always had faith... the passion to do what I love. And I started a new group because a lot of people would stop me on the street and ask, "Why did you stop the Gipsy Kings?" One day I said to myself, ‘It's true... why did I stop?’ I thought to myself, ‘I should continue’. So I gathered other musicians... and the good thing is that it allowed for other talented musicians to come out of the shadows.

THE GIPSY KINGS AS THEY WERE IN 1989

CHICO & THE GYPSIES AS THEY ARE TODAY

ELYAHOU LALLOUZ: What are some of the new projects for Chico & The Gypsies?

CHICO: Right now, I'm recording a new album and doing concerts.

ELYAHOU LALLOUZ: And the public's reaction to Chico & The Gypsies?

CHICO: ‘Today, more than yesterday’. I have the feeling of rediscovering the energy and passion of The Gipsy Kings when we first started. And musically... ‘it's the top’. And there's a project in the works to do a documentary about me.

ELYAHOU LALLOUZ: Which country was your first big success?

CHICO: Our biggest success in America ‘came from Canada’. First, we went to Canada ‘which was love at first sight’! American promoters came to see us in Canada. From there they invited us to New York to an international music festival. ‘And then we spread like wildfire’.

ELYAHOU LALLOUZ: In Montreal?

CHICO: Quebec... Montreal.

On July 21, 1973, a 30-year-old Moroccan waiter, Ahmed Bouchikhi was repeatedly shot as he and his pregnant wife returned home from the movie theatre in Lillehammer, Norway. Bouchikhi had been targeted by Mossad agents in “Wrath of God”, an operation in retaliation of the 1972 Munich Olympic massacre which had been carried out by Ali Hassan Salameh, leader of the Black September Palestinian group... the terrorist for whom he was assassinated.

A diminutive time frame lay ahead, all the while Chico maintained his composure. And the moment of truth: ‘Salom Shalom’ Concert, which translates to the words ‘Welcome’ and ‘Peace’ in the Arabic and Hebrew languages. A chorus of two hundred Israeli, Palestinian, and Norwegian children was led by the head of the Oslo Philharmonic Ochestra, Zubin Mehta. ‘A multilingual song in the name of Peace’.

It was following a thirty minute performance by Chico & The Gypsies, that Peres and Arafat went onstage to congratulate the Artists. As the two leaders shook Chico’s hand, it’s ‘as if a sense of peace and forgiveness pacified his being’ -- as if his dearly departed eldest brother, Ahmed, would approve of his involvement in this milestone. ‘The new Peace Accord had been signed earlier that day’.

Oslo, 1994. Bobby Bouchikhi captures the image of brother Chico’s ‘meeting & handshakes’ with Israeli President Shimon Peres and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat at the 1st Anniversary of the Peace Accord.

ELYAHOU LALLOUZ: Can you talk to us about Manitas de Plata?

CHICO: ‘If he didn't exist, we wouldn't exist’. Before the Gipsy Kings, Manitas de Plata was the ‘Ambassador for Gypsy music’. He is essential to Gypsy culture. He's a persona that at the time when he succeeded back in the 60's, he charmed the greats. He did concerts all over the world with a guitar... and the voice was Jose Reyes, my father-in-law. What's incredible to me is that 25-30 years later, what these two men started, ‘I reunited the Reyes and Baliardos to form The Gipsy Kings’.

ELYAHOU LALLOUZ: When you were younger and entered the Reyes family, was it difficult?

CHICO: No, no. They accepted me right away. Clementine Reyes, who later became my mother-in-law, was an extraordinary woman... So when I entered their house, I immediately felt at home.

ELYAHOU LALLOUZ: And when you first entered the house, was it because you were in love with their daughter?

CHICO: No, because I fell in love with her after. I was first friends with Nicolas, and then I became friends with the other Reyes... but I didn't realize that they were all brothers! When I saw them enter the house, they all said that they were brothers. I found that incredible. Then Jose Reyes came in, and they told me that he was their father. I couldn't believe it because when I was a young boy, I saw him on television with Manitas de Plata. It was like entering into a dream for me! It was fabulous.

Chico is pictured with ‘The Forefather of all Gypsy Music’, Ricardo Baliardo, known worldwide as the legendary Manitas de Plata.

ELYAHOU LALLOUZ: Where do you get your strength?

CHICO: It’s faith, generosity, life itself. If we love life, we love humanity. And even in the meanest person, there is always some good. And that's what you have to try and pull out. It's true that I was touched deeply. And because I was touched so deeply, I can speak with my heart. ‘It was terrible’.

Chico pictured with (from l to r): Actor Sylvester Stallone, His Holiness the 14th Dalaï Lama, former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, Academy Award-winning actor Michael Douglas, and Golden Globe-winning actor and the 38th Governor of the U.S. State of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

(00:21:43)

An incredible month spent at the Beverly Hilton, a costly spending spree, good times spent with ‘old and new’ friends... and to top it all off, an invitation to the ‘Guess Jeans’ Marciano Bar Mitzvah!

The music of The Gipsy Kings will forever hold indelible memories... an autobiographical chronicle

of our time spent in California.

And now, twenty years later... the opportunity to sit with Chico, the Founder of The Gipsy Kings ‘then’ as well as the Founder of his own group CHICO & THE GYPSIES ‘now’, the conclusion would have to be written that Jahloul ‘Chico’ Bouchikhi may not have been born ‘a Gypsy’, but throughout his journey and ‘to the world’, he remains... THE GYPSY KING.

FYI: After filing a report with the Santa Monica Police Department, our car was found 6 days later... or at least the shell of it was!

CHICO: THE GYPSY KING