I've shared with you a picture of José Reyes' guitar. Therefore I felt it a "must" to describe my wonderful afternoon with this guitar (despite the rain) in the room where he played for the last time.

That night, he came to my friend's place with all his sons (now Gipsy Kings), and told my friend that he knew that he would die very soon and wished for the last time to play with his sons and have her dance to the music.

He then asked her to go in her room and bring his guitar. (José and her were old and close friends, since she used to live near the Reyes in a tiny caravan in Saintes Maries and also because, for years, she danced while José was playing.

My friend described that evening that she will never forget and at one moment she showed me the place where each of them stood in the room. That's when I learned that I was precisely seated at José's place on the sofa...

For the first time, it has been harsh for my friend to dance to José's and his sons' music. José sang for hours, with a lot of dignity. He had a very sad voice but could not hide his suffering. At the end, before leaving with his sons, he told my friend to keep the guitar. Probably because of its clerical origins, he did not wish to burn it as it is the ancient gipsy tradition - José got this guitar from a Bishop from the city of Rozas in Spain.

This is to explain my emotion, this afternoon, while handling this guitar after taking it out from its old jean's sheet. Despite the protection, the top was covered with dust which made me think that it probably was not taken out from there since 1979 (and my friend is an excellent dancer but not a musician).

It looks quite old, in fact it is from the Valencian "Sentchordi Hermanos", two brothers who were active from 1861 until 1905 (on the Nr 5 calle de la Bolseria in Valencia). Their shop was quite famous since the two brothers traced their roots from Manuel Sentchordi (1700 - 1765).

José was very fond of his guitar. He believed and used to say "this guitar has a real soul..."

I'm just a beginner on guitar, but with the Gipsy Kings and many other Camargue's groups, trained my ears in understanding the depth and purity of guitar sound. Its voice impressed me. I did wool gathering with the spirit of this peculiar night in this small room imagining the now Gipsy Kings singing around their father for the last time. I felt the nobility of that man who last wished to gather the ones he loved to play music from across his life. I understood that he did not burn the guitar, as it is the tradition of the Ancient gipsies, because of its clerical origins.

Beside its emotional content, the guitar has a very beautiful appearance with nacre on the face and has a white part with the trace of José's fingers. It has a wooden "capodastre" (in french, kind of accessory to reduce the length of the strings) that he had built himself. I left and thanked my friend for this magical afternoon...

Voilà, amigos mios, that's all folks. I just wished to share with you, fans of Gipsy Kings and maybe of José Reyes, today's great moment.