"We have been wanting to leave him for a long time, but people do not stop demanding us," said the rumbero trio that has been announcing its retirement since 2014 and that even organized a tour for that reason. On the verge of their 50th anniversary, Los Chichos have decided that to put an end to their long flamenco career, "better to do things well".
They are Julio González Gabarre, Emilio González Gabarre and his son, Emilio González García, who replaced the late Juan Antonio Jiménez Muñoz, Jeros. For this goodbye they have prepared a new tour and an album of duets, "not collaborations", the band has qualified.
"In the past we have collaborated with many artists, such as Manolo García, but since everything now goes through social networks, this time we will do it with very leading people there, like Omar Montes", they explained before what will be the first studio album from Up to here we have arrived, in 2008.
In this new album they will play the classic songs of Los Chichos, "which is what the people want", they assure, but modifying arrangements and adapting to the ways of their guests "so that they can expand and enjoy themselves".
They will also reissue, on vinyl and in chronological order, the 22 albums that make up their discography since Ni más, ni menos (1974), which they recorded by Antonio Sánchez, the father of Paco and Pepe de Lucía, who discovered them at the Café de Chinitas in Madrid playing their mythical Quiero ser libre.
Popular success accompanied them album after album until the departure of the Jeros group in 1990, although the rest of the band denies that, as has been published, it was caused by disagreements.
"We never thought of separating. We were three adult men and we weren't crazy. Jeros withdrew because he had been with us a lot and at his own risk he wanted to make a duet with his son, but there was never a Quita y echate para there. We were close friends until the end and there was no disagreement at all," they say.
His position was filled immediately. Emilio González Jr. filled the vacancy and the group kept going, even after the unexpected death of his former member in 1995, after falling into the void from the terrace of his house.
Los Chichos proudly point out their innovative musical character, since, as José Sordera pointed out, they coined flamenco fusion long before Ketama, who considered them a benchmark, as did Estopa, C. Tangana, Rosalía, later on. the aforementioned Omar Montes or the Primavera Sound festival, which made them the headliner in 2016.
"We wanted to leave it until we realized that 2023 is the 50th anniversary, a very nice and round figure, so we wanted to wait to do things well", they have justified the comings and goings.
In this presumed last tour they will be accompanied by a band with 5 or 6 musicians, a choir and "a first division production", they have explained, to perform in places such as the Teatro Apolo in Barcelona on April 1st. They promise the finishing touch for Madrid, their home, always between Entrevías and El Pozo del Tío Raimundo: "You are from the neighborhood where you are born and you get used to humility, because money is not everything," they concluded.
