It was hot Tuesday evening in the church of Erstein, in Bas-Rhin, where the guitars and songs of Chico & The Gypsies warmly set the fire. More than 350 people attended a tour of the gypsy group who came to sing the most beautiful Christmas carols. Ave Maria, Jingle bells, Feliz navidad, The divine child is born came together under heavy applause from a very well-behaved audience…probably considering the place where the group of musicians was performing. The most beautiful Christmas carols therefore, but without forgetting a medley of the greatest titles of the Gypsies King of which Chico was one of the members.
“Exceptional acoustics in a sacred place”
Flamenco to sing Christmas? “It’s appropriate and we wanted to do this tour of the churches to meet and gather together in a sacred place,” Chico explains to 20 minutes. Churches with exceptional acoustics to resonate gypsy music, even if the group had to be careful not to turn up the sound system too loud.
A bit of a philosopher, Chico also explains this choice of church: “it’s a place where we come when we have lost someone, but also to celebrate with weddings, births… It’s a a place where we recharge our batteries, where a true spirituality emerges, and there, with our songs, it is something truly extraordinary. » But then why Alsace? “We were told that it was very cold here and that they needed the sun, so we started there,” replies Chico, guitar in hand, in the small kitchen of the church which serves as his dressing room. .
After a concert in Annecy and this Erstein concert on Tuesday evening, Chico & The Gypsies will perform in Colmar at the Saint-Joseph church at 8 p.m. this Wednesday, then Thursday in Haguenau (Bas-Rhin) at the Saint-Joseph church. Joseph also at 8 p.m.