Basque music
These ballads were crafted and spread by minstrels or bertsolaris, were kept in popular memory, and were transmitted in the so-called kopla zaharrak, sets of poems with a characteristic rhythmic pattern that could be sung: this is similar to traditional practices elsewhere in Europe.
So, for example, the first work of literature in Basque Linguæ Vasconum Primitiæ (1545) by Bernard Etxepare shows long verses that, while deceptively fashioned in metres resembling those used in Romance poetry, follow an internal rhythmic pattern similar to a kopla, so they can be popularly sung.
A considerable corpus of traditional songs was gathered by Resurrección María de Azkue and Aita Donostia, two religious scholars interested in Basque folk culture, at the turn of the 20th century; and also later on, in Cancionero popular vasco (1918) and Euskal Eres-Sorta.
In the present day, the band Hiru Truku (comprising the celebrated musicians Joseba Tapia, Ruper Ordorika and Bixente Martinez) has chosen several ancient songs from all over the Basque Country, updated the music brilliantly and released them in a number of albums.
Later on, other ensembles were formed, such as Oldarra Abesbatza from Biarritz (founded in 1947), made up of men and sometimes putting on performances as an ochote (see below),[2] or the reputed Coral Andra Mari from Errenteria, established in 1966, featuring Basque folk music and Aita Donostia's several scores.
In Bayonne and Donostia a cheerful informal initiative has grown popular with amateurs in the late noughties, who meet once a month and go bar hopping around the streets of the respective Old Quarters while singing traditional songs.
After the hardest postwar years, the younger generation set about putting together duos and small musical groups in Gipuzkoa and Biscay, who gradually began singing original tunes in Basque.
In this category falls Mixel Labeguerie, who worked and lived in Kanbo, its mayor for more than a decade (1965–1980), Councillor General of the department and a founder of Basque nationalist movement Embata (he walked out later).
They gradually developed their own repertoire fashioned in line with the Basque revival and activism (special focus on the lyrics) and ongoing Western musical trends, e.g. folk (Gwendal for one), progressive rock (Pink Floyd,...).
In the same city, the prolific band Oskorri (see above) got together featuring folk music, launching first album in 1976, where they paid homage to poet Gabriel Aresti, while in the Northern Basque Country Michel Ducau and Anje Duhalde teamed up and put together the first Basque rock band, the celebrated and politically committed Errobi, releasing album Errobi (1975) to critic and public acclaim, Bizi bizian ensued, probably its best, with the record company CBS considering signing up a contract with them.
[6] Beginning in the mid-60s, Imanol Larzabal led a solo career as a singer/songwriter, featuring a deep voice as well as a socially committed and poetic subjects, with the collaboration of domestic and foreign poets and singers.
Yet at the end of the 1970s and notably in the early 1980s, new regional publishers arose (Xoxoa, Soñua...), providing a springboard for small bands that previously found it difficult to see their works come to light.
At the same time, a whole network of youth squats, the gaztetxes, sprang up all over the Basque Country, so furnishing small bands with premises to rehearse and a venue to stage concerts.
For the first time, a younger disaffected and unruly generation stemming from urban sprawls and towns could find an outlet to voice its protest along the lines of a punk outlook ("do it yourself"), but could not avoid being badly shaken by drugs.
Duncan Dhu especially attained big levels of popularity on the Spanish and international pop scene, giving rise to a tradition in ensuing years that was to be called "Donosti Sound" (Le Mans, La Oreja de Van Gogh,...).
The flagship Basque rock band Kortatu broke up in 1988 (live album Azken guda dantza), and soon after brothers Muguruza put together project Negu Gorriak.
Trikitixa schools finally bore fruit in the 1990s: The novelties brought about by the duo Tapia eta Leturia and Kepa Junkera confirmed them as compelling folk references in the Basque Country and even abroad.
Power pop band Urtz, formed in 1988, dealt with personal stories that slightly differed from the still prevailing protest topics and harsh language of the late 1980s, besides featuring an unprecedented chorus line that delivered some charming, upbeat and catchy songs.
In step with the hardcore punk tradition, the band Berri Txarrak from Lekunberri got together in 1994, releasing various albums and touring on Europe, where they come in for good reviews and gradually get a reputation that earned them performances and collaborations with important figures of indie rock all over the world.
[15] In the French Basque Country, the festive band Sustraia attained great popularity after 15 years on the road, while the sudden death of charismatic frontman Patrick Mixelena in January 2009, a.k.a.
Other singer-songwriters include Petti, from Bera (Navarre), with four albums published up to 2008, or the bertsolari Mikel Urdangarin, featuring somewhat melancholic songs often accompanied on string and brass instruments.
Meanwhile, some renowned figures of Basque folk music have kept on performing and creating, e.g. Benito Lertxundi, or Oskorri (fresh album Banda band in 2007, about to celebrate the ensemble's 35 anniversary).
The ensemble Bidaia, i.e. the couple Mixel Ducau and Caroline Phillips, offers gentle and elaborate folk music, while percussionist Benat Achiary (born 1947) provides an experimental approach, often featuring improvised passages in his performances (several albums released in the 1990s).
Amaia Zubiria (born 1947 in Zubieta -Gipuzkoa-), who has occasionally collaborated with him, holds a long and prolific career in the Basque song panorama: She came to the spotlight with progressive-folk group Haizea, having published some solo albums since and featuring a very pure mezzo-soprano voice.
