Yesteryear city band ‘The Gypsies’ to return for a reunion show after 25 years

In the late 1980s, a group of youngsters in Thiruvananthapuram happened to watch a video of the annual Grammy Awards. Among them were a few who had begun learning various musical instruments. The glitzy award ceremony to honour musicians kindled a thought in them to form a band. Within a few days was born ‘The Gypsies’, a rock-pop band which would remain active in the music scene in the capital over the next decade.

Now, over twenty five years after they disbanded, the members of the band are coming together from different parts of the world for a reunion concert to be held at the Vyloppilly Samskrithi Bhavan on October 17 at 7 p.m.

“Back then, we had only a few venues for rock or pop music in Thiruvananthapuram. So, we had to struggle a lot initially. Through filmmaker Shyamaprasad, we got an opportunity to perform in two shows which were featured in Doordarshan. Those performances opened a lot of doors for us. In 1989, we composed a song titled ‘Memories’ for G.Aravindan’s film Unni. During that period, we managed to perform at various venues in the city. For over a decade, till around 2000, we performed in Hotel Luciya and the ITDC Ashok Beach Resort in Kovalam,” says Martin, vocalist and bassist of the band.

The Gypsies

The band, which mostly used to perform covers with a mix of a few original songs, also consisted of lead guitarist Ravi Kumar, keyboardist Shiju Kurien, drummer Nazar and vocalist Luke Varghese. The Gypsies’ journey ended just like that of many others, with some of the members moving outside the State and the country for their jobs.

“Now that we are all getting old, we thought that we should have a reunion for old times’ sake. At a time when most bands did not survive beyond a few years, we managed to be around for over a decade. It is something worth celebrating,” says Martin.