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Javi Jiménez from Barrio Manouche graces us with his presence in this July 2025 edition after several months of wanting to talk to the artist. After witnessing one of his wonderful shows at Cascal Restaurant, where the group performs regularly, we have checked the high quality of Javi’s work and that of his bandmates, so we could not miss the opportunity to share the most important aspects of his career, both in his native Spain and in San Francisco.

Javi’s beginnings in the musical world

The first contact with music in Javi’s life was made thanks to his parents, and in the neighborhood where he grew up, music was always present. From an early age, he and his brother listened to all kinds of genres at home, which awoke in them an interest in this art form beyond seeing it as simple entertainment. He remembers that since he was six, he saw his uncle playing the guitar until a few years later, when he turned 10, his uncle gave him this instrument so that he could play it himself.

Although his family did not have many musicians, he mentioned a cousin of his who was a bassist and actually wrote him his first chords on a piece of paper so that he could experiment with his new guitar and he did.

First professional experiences

He describes his taste in music after the age of 12 as an “obsession,” and at that time, he was very into rock and punk, nothing to do with what he plays today. He then started hanging out with several schoolmates who shared his hobby of playing music, which ended up giving rise to his first band, Mulatask. Currently, there is nothing about this online, as the internet did not exist at that time, so all evidence that this alternative rock and grunge band ever existed is on CDs and MP3 files that are not public.

In addition to that, the music his parents listened to continued to influence him to some extent. Among their favorite artists were Silvio Rodríguez, Victor Jara, Canción Protesta and Paco Ibañez. These singers impacted him so much that he began to study a little the classics and play them, but rock and electric guitar were still his favorites above all else. In fact, his favorite artists were Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Jimmy Hendrix, among others. 

This was the kind of music he played with his friends in the neighborhood and they even gave small recitals in front of audiences of 200-300 people when they were 15 or 16 years old at the time, which made the teenage Javi love to show his art to the world. 

Transition to gypsy jazz, modern jazz, and flamenco

Javi’s transition to gypsy jazz (inspiration for the name of his future band), modern jazz, and flamenco began when he moved to Barcelona, where he studied at a jazz and modern music conservatory. There he discovered a lot of genres and styles he had never heard before, one of which was bebop, also known simply as bob, which is a jazz style developed in the United States during the 1940s. At that time, he also discovered Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, among others.

Although Javi did not really identify with that language, he wanted to truly understand music so he could interpret it as best as possible. He did everything he could to understand bebop, but he found it very difficult until he started listening to Belgian gypsy jazz guitarist of Roma descent, Django Reinhardt, who was also a fan of Louis Armstrong. When he listened to Armstrong, he wanted to play the same thing, but with his own Roma touch, so he formed a band with two guitars, a bass, and a violin.

One of this band’s favorite genres is gypsy jazz manouche, which Javi loved and was passionate about since the first time he listened to it, to the point that he would name his future group Barrio Manouche (Gypsy jazz in Spanish).

On the side of flamenco, there were many gypsies and immigrants in his home neighborhood, including the Porrina family, which consisted of world-renowned percussionists such as Ramón Porrina, who has played with Concha Buika and Israel Suarez ‘‘El Piraña’’, a flamenco guitarist who was in Paco de Lucía’s last lineup.

Javi tells us this to show that flamenco was very present in the environment he grew up, largely because there were many migrants. In his family’s case, they came from Andalusia and Cordoba.

He continues to insist that he still did not like it very much and his thing was rock. It was in California that he finally had nostalgic about the music of his homeland and wanted to reconnect with his roots in foreign lands. 

Moving to California

Javi had never thought about trying his luck in California until he met Adam Rouch, a Californian tattoo artist and musician who became his friend and with whom he toured Europe. In 2009, Adam had to return to his city because his parents were not in good health, and he told his Spanish friend to go with him to see how he liked the place. 

Although the artist was not convinced by the idea, he ended up accepting and discovered in San Francisco fun, cultural exchange, diversity, and many things that fascinated him. The best thing was the opportunity for its inhabitants to express themselves through practically any type of art or genre without fear of judgment, which made him decide to definitely stay living and finally become an American citizen.

How Barrio Manouche was formed

After he met with many musicians and made many contacts, Javi and his brother Luis, who is also part of the group on cajón and percussion, met Salvadoran percussionist Marcos Odara, French saxophonist Cyril Guiraud, violinist Magali Sanscartier, bassist Chris Bastian, his future replacement Gary Johnson, and guitarist Ross Howe. Finally, they included Colombian bongo player and flutist Iván Rondón, with whom they collaborated until he became a permanent member of the band.

The previous artists make up the instrumental part, but the dancing part includes Fanny Ara and Brazilian dancer Emaye Ama. 

Thanks to the huge number of nationalities and cultures present in the group, they have managed to get a unique sound Javi describes as a “bomb” due to the mixture of elements that are so diverse from one another.

 He says he feels a deep appreciation and respect for each of them, which makes the unity of the group stronger and more lasting despite the crises and the passage of time.

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