When Lucas Romero was baptised, his godfather, actor Klaus Kinski, announced that young Lucas would become a wild guitarist. For those who don’t know him, Kinski had an extraordinarily compelling screen presence, matched by his reputation as an extraordinarily difficult man easily driven to epic tantrums and bursts of quasi-shamanistic ranting. In baby Lucas’s case, Kinski didn’t need to draw on his inner shaman. Lucas’s father was a guitarist/singer and his mother a Rumba and Flamenco dancer.
Lucas Romero was born in Arles, France, in the Roquette district. He learnt to play the guitar at six through his family association with the Gitano Family Band. Gitanos are a subset of Spanish Romani known to be close-knit, partly due to their adherence to leyes gitanas, or Gypsy laws. Lucas continues to play with The Gitano Family and styles himself as LucasGitanoFamily on YouTube. Here is Lucas playing a Flamenco-style interpretation of He’s a Pirate from the Pirates of the Caribbean OST:
In Lucas Romero’s case, Klaus Kinski wasn’t deluded. As the Amazon editorial on him puts it, Lucas “became one of the most brilliant guitarists of his generation” and “perpetuates the wild, festive, improvised and instinctive gypsy rumba flamenco style, enriched with new touches inspired by his numerous journeys: Middle East, Japan, Tahiti.” C.j20fingers56 comments on He’s A Pirate on YouTube “Only a guitarist can understand the hardness level of what he is playing. Hats off to you sir.”
While Lucas excels on his solo YouTube uploads, to fully appreciate his music you need to see him accompanied by The Gitano Family band. The band is known for energetic shows. Influenced by the great guitarist Django Reinhardt, the group effortlessly merges diverse influences including Gypsy jazz, Latin styles, world music and rock. While the following video is of a song from the album Calle Gitana (2017), which was released as a Lucas Romero album, it features The Gitano Family. Enjoy!
The Gitano Family plays festivals and concerts across France and has toured Monaco, Qatar, Tokyo, Tahiti, New York, Barcelona and Dubai, amongst other destinations.
Among the many accolades bestowed on Lucas Romero, the one he cherishes the most is undoubtedly the gift of a guitar from the great, internationally renowned Gitano guitarist Ricardo Baliardo (1921– 2014, known by his stage name, Manitas de Plata). Apparently, De Plata gifted the guitar to Lucas Romero before he, De Plata, died at 93, saying, “This guitar needs to be played.”
If you would like to see more from Lucas Romero, you can subscribe to his YouTube channel or follow him on Facebook.