Chillida-Leku

Published in DEIA, December 23, 2010







THE human evolution has not had a constant continuity throughout history. Moments of a great development have followed with other ones of sudden stop and stagnation. But even so, there is something that always has kept on unalterable, the benefit of art. I am ignorant of the true motive it has been always pigeonholed in the divertissement, the enjoyment and even I would say as a pastime, when in reality it is one of the fundamental pieces on which lays the foundations of the correct development of every society. We already know the dispute surrounding with the possible closedown of the museum Chillida Leku of Hernani. Eduardo Chillida is an artist whose work fascinates me. I have visited several times the museum; sometime I have even interpreted my music inside the facility. Certainly, it is an authentic delight to take a walk around the gardens admiring his works. The shapes, the force, its energy, what he transmits, it all forms a work of art in herself, which is one of the emblems of Chillida Leku. But it is that this museum, it is not only an area where exhibiting the donostiarra artist's talent, but also the person in charge of protecting all his patrimony and negotiating the way creator wanted it to be. At the end, as always, everything is a cost-reducing issue: The financial crisis, problems of management, etc.

Everything has been said, but we also should tone up a “my fault" from our part, the citizens, for the poor interest that arouses our artistic inside of us. The art in any of his disciplines makes us better, develops our neuronal system like in the capacity of transmitting feelings. And I don’t know if we are aware of it. We are a species that evolves based on needs, before materials were more urgent, now, the same ones, becomes of a very different nature, more personal. But it seems that we keep on going without realizing it. Let's promote pleasure and the need for art and our society will evolve firm, still with results in the long run, but definitely, forever.

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Photograph by txokoarte

MORENTE

Published in DEIA, Dec. 16, 2010


I know his daughter, Estrella. Curiously she was the person who opened the trilogy project singing Haurtxo txiki of the album Etxea. I always imagined being able to fuse together our oral tradition with the flamenco music and the result was spectacular. They have just mention to me that she sang softly to her father’s ears melodies and songs while he found himself bedridden in the hospital. Incredible! Enrique Morente, the great revolutionary of the singing, past away last Monday at the age of 67. The "maestro" that every time he sung imposed the law of his talent he was one of the most renewing and important figures of the contemporary flamenco. He was born on Christmas Day, 1942 in Granada and being an adolescent he traveled to Madrid being very curious of learning and discovering the secrets of singing. Enrique "el granaíno" (the man from Granda) as he was known then, aroused the interest of a full heart born ethnic Flamenco singer, Pepe de la Matrona, because of his attitude and devotion in his art. During his career he touched stick there was, as well he presumed, affirming that he was the only capable one to sing the "49 notes and half of the jondo". He fused the flamenco with oceans of cultures and music’s. He experimented with a lot of artists of very different styles. He sang poems and the letters of the most important writers and also he could dedicate himself to the pure of singing. He always looked further on and was ahead of his time, with the resulting criticisms; "They criticized me of being innovative and not being Gypsy", he said. He obtained very important prizes like the National Award of Music or the gold Medal to the Merit in the Fine Arts among others. Besides he had and kept a deep affection to our land and maintained a great friendship with another great artist of our homeland, Mikel Laboa. Flamenco is something energetic, sincere, of worldly essence, something that is kept in their souls, a mystery that reminds the crying and forces it vast of the human soul. Morente would say that you have to be "savage, free and to sing what you feel", or what is all the same, being oneself. Thank you "Maestro" for so much talent and all the singing.


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NUN HAGO?

Published in DEIA, Dec. 9, 2010




All bottled up in the most important dates of the Basque culture, collecting affection and the support of a great many people. And at the same time, one great of the cultural Basque panorama has left us after a life of brawl and passion. Xabier Lete has been one of those figures that who also in time will be appraised as he should be. He was born in Oiartzun in 1944 and one of the members of that mythical group was so-called Ez Dok Amairu very discipled along with Mikel Laboa, Benito Lertxundi, José angel Irigaray, José Antonio Artze or Lourdes Iriondo. He and many others have been my teachers and in which I have gotten inspired when creating many of my albums. He was poet, singer and above all an passionate of our culture and of our essence that he protected when it was not easy to do and in which he based later on in sculpturing true works of art that grew from his talent. In the course of his life he published many works and even having political responsibilities that he had to retire because of health problems in 1985. Recovered of his sickness Xabier continued with his work as a singer and poet and received rewards and very important recognitions like the reward of Felipe Arrese Beitia poetry, granted by Euskaltzaindia, or the one of the Basque Country in Literature. All artists always have a special workart; a composition that, God knows why, reaches the public's heart. Past the years or playing hundreds of concerts, the public will always ask for that book, that song or the melody that accompanies your name. And who hasn’t listened to Xalbadorren Herio-tzean sung by Xabier? I was stunned watching him reciting and singing the ballads of the folksongs with such passion on TV. His fists tight, his teeth and mouth with tension and with that stressed mouth and his gaze that emanated "emotion". Always looking into the deep inner feeling in order to stir up and express the hidden. Gora zu XABIER!!


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Osotasunean

Published in DEIA, December 10, 2010





Here we are in Christmas season, starting off with Saint Thomas's, Christmas and New Year..... And also another year is the Durango´s Fair of the Basque Books and Music. I’m eager to be there. Lately, I have not been able to attend because of my tight and busy agenda, but this year indeed I need to feel the atmosphere of "tis the season”. Besides this year is very special for me, I will present for the first time to the public the complete Trilogy of the Basque Folk Music. There I will be in the same stand of Hiri Records, among others, the three records: Etxea, Kalea and Herria. The three chapters in which we have summarized the day's run lived during the realization of this project. It thrills me to remember many of the moments lived throughout this trip and seeing that this concluded adventure is reflected in each and every one of the 74 songs that have been recorded. 283 artists of 49 countries, infinity of producers, technicians, photographers, video cameras, managers, people of production, studios. We all have worked to the fullest; achieving a project that I am very proud of for the illusion and all hard effort everyone has put in this trilogy, demonstrating that music does not understand neither frontiers nor languages. All looking for a common goal, sharing our identity there where, somehow, we already have been present. This weekend, Durango can be a perfect starting point for this personal journey, could be with the trilogy or with any other work that there, at the fair, they will expose, which I know will be many and very good ones. I for one am happy to have finished the work. Finished? The project never ends. It finishes the effort, the dedication, but while there are people that listening and living the songs stirs up their inner feelings, I am sure that the project will continue to be alive in the most strangest and fantastic corners of our soul and of the human essence, where each and every of the journeys reside through our wandering around takes us. We’ll see you in Durango!


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BESTEEGAN

Published in DEIA, Nov. 25, 2010





I BELIEVE THAT we have become the most incoherent species of the planet. We know that the motor of our existence is our mind. It is the part of our body that tells us apart from the rest of the living beings. And even so, we have transposed all our knowledge in upgrading our lives economically, sanitary, labor level, etc., Forgetting about the most affective and sentimental part. In a primary school in the Japanese city of Kanasawa the professor Toshiro Kanamori, 57 years old, that has be teaching more than over 30 years. In Kanamori´s class, he tries to reach out the idea of the true values of life to his students and of the pursuit of happiness. Toshiro affirms that a professor's most important job is making his students learn how to experiment and sharing the different experiences lived making good use of each opportunity to express one’s individually. That way he manages to create between his students strong affective links, that allow them to be able to express each and every feeling that exist inside of them. When they laugh, the really laugh, they cry deeply and feeling everything with intensity to make them finally live life to its most. During a year, a television’s team recorded all that happened during the class of Toshiro to realize an incredible documentary that has obtained a great success. They have taught us that to express our innermost feelings makes us different - That is something that others do not do!- and because of it we, during the years, acquire a cuirass that you hedge within yourself to feel safe. This documentary demonstrates that to express what one feels produces in others empathy, complicity and that joins the people, brings them closer together. We live in a world than instead of creating bonds between us; we tie them down in order that the other one does not escape, instead of showing of who we are, or playing the necessary role to conquer the fellow being. Expressing our emotions either in public or in private is something that we are not accustomed. It is about time to change, as Toshiro says “Let the people live in your heart..." so they can live forever in our soul.


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HERRIA

Published in DEIA, Nov. 18, 2010





WHEN after an adventure that I have lived this past year and with the results in your hand to present it in public, you can feel of types of sensations. You always create a kind of profound respect of everyone's opinion towards your work. . One knows all that he has lived, felt, and even what it represents for him all that he has experienced in life, but the great question that always comes to my mind is: How do I make myself express to others and to make them have an image, the closest possible, of the outcome? Herria is one of the most special and intensive albums that I have had opportunity to present. Recorded in New York, Oakland, Paris, Casablanca, Istanbul, Athens, Boise Idaho, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Antonio Texas, Hawaii and Bilbao, this record is like the final attainment of an incredible project. In this occasion I have counted with the help, among others, of Eleftheria Arvanitaki, the voices of Chelle's and Friends, the quintet of Dave Douglas, the incredible All Nations Singers, the people of the Boise´s Choir, NOKA, Amuma Says No, the Texan music and so on, more then 130 artists of 28 countries or writers like Bernardo Atxaga and my friend Xabier Amuriza. A whole challenge of diaries, journeys, airports, taxis, education, schedules etc. Remembering the previous ones Etxea and Kalea, Herria has supposed a new turn around focus, something like curling the curl just a little more of the efforts and the complicities of it all. I do not exaggerate if I say that I am very proud of the outcome. It is not a perfect work but definitely I have counted on great collaborators and the perfect team. Result: 23 songs in which we have overturned to the last straw of what we have inside, literally emptiness, in a job that I hope will produce oceans of sensations in all those who decide to undertake this journey, around the world, just like our ancestors carried out in search of a better life. Kaixo denori, hona hemen Herria!


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SINFONÍA

Published in DEIA, Nov 11, 2010



Sometimes we have to forget what one knows to be able to imagine what he needs. At times it results more interesting how to create and discover than to compile the necessary knowledge. It is complicated to assume why the human beings becomes mentally blinded in establishing laws and concepts of almost invariable nature, knowing about the relativity of the things. While we were making a comment about the curious existing connotation between the music, mathematicians and physics, a friend of mine talks to me about the theory of The Music of the Spheres in order to try to understand the existing harmony in the universe. According to the theory, backed up by important thinkers like Pythagoras, the universe would function as a giant-sized musical instrument. Each heavenly body would broadcast a musical note in terms of the arithmetic proportions of its orbits around Earth. Something like what happens with the strings of a harp, whose tones depends on the length of each one of them. Combining the sounds of every sphere with the other ones, resounding only synchrony, so-called Music of the Spheres would be produced, that could even explain the origin of the universe. But when the German astronomer Johannes Kepler appears on scene he theorizes on what we really can say, the type of sound that emits each heavenly body, it is the velocity he moves with and not the distance that separates it from us. Today one knows that the atmosphere of the sun emits imperceptible sound waves audibly for us, but that would prove that heavenly bodies emit harmonious sounds confirming the above-cited Music of the Spheres. And again how relative that is. The more we know, the more we find out more varies our perception of what surrounds us. But there is something that remains invariable forever. The importance that it is to imagine, in creating, giving form or shape to the unknown, which is where the essences of all search is located, the absence of response.

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IRAGAN GUNE

Published in DEIA, Nov. 4, 2010


WHERE do we come from? Where do we go? Personally, I am more interested in the first one than the second. The future is still to decide and to become. I feel more attracted by the past because it is tangible, demonstrable. Our history is a succession of success and errors, of calmness and tempests that work in a cyclic way. But there is something in the past that impassions me. Where do we place the beginning of life? And who were their true main characters? Little by little, one realizes that the answers to all these questions are right in front of us. Just as to every disease supposedly has its own cure, just the same, every mystery has its explanation if we know how to look for it well, in the most unsuspected corners of our own planet. In an article of the National Geographic discovered that the Geomicrobiology Lab of the department of Geoscience of the University of Pennsylvania, USA, Jenn Macalady, is analyzing the chemical compounds and the ways of life that populate the so-called Bahamas Blue Holes. They are submarine caves in the Bahamas that simulate what could have been the land before the invasion of oxygen. It is believed that life on earth began 4 billion years ago and only 2.5 billion years that oxygen appeared on the planet. During the next 1.5 billion years the life on earth was based in lathe beings that were ignorant of the use of the oxygen as a source of energy itself. Because of conditions, these Blue Holes are the perfect ecosystem to study how life could have existed without oxygen and to solve many doubts of the beginnings. But it also opens a wide door to possible explanations to assume that the absence of oxygen does not limit the existence of life for us, not even in each and every one of the million planets that exist in the universe. At the end studying the past we create our future. What's magical of all this is carrying out an investigation over something we do not know, because it brings us closer to the true mystery, which is at the end what we feel attracted to, to the unknown.


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BIZI GOSEA

Published in DEIA, Oct. 28, 2010



Life teaches that neither the good nor the bad shows up always under the same circumstances. A while ago I experienced an incredible situation under some determined conditions, after a while you can live another one subordinate to other different ones which seems as amazing to you or even more than the previous. 15 days ago I visited the center Zabaloetxe Goikoa of Aspace in Loiu, where I had one of the most fascinating encounters with its pupils, people with cerebral palsy and other added disabilities. The act consisted in answering the questions that various pupils of the center had prepared and in return being able to be close to the ones that have the courage to face their severer disabilities in different ways, using the live music to connect with them by means of the various sensorial channels. Seeing, hearing, breathing, smelling, communicating, moving... In The Course Of life, one loses track of the importance of all these words. It’s curious to have to live extreme situations to come to realize something so evident as if life is a great gift. They say that happiness is a feeling that is experienced by contrast and I believe that in the same way consciousness is something that also grows in our inner self, or better said, awakens, because of pure contrast. I assure you that in the course of the morning I felt so many innumerable sensations that time after time I would get goose pimples. The warmth, affection, the strong emotions, indescribable, gazes, is something that I cannot put into words. Enormous! Life has to be appraised in his fair measure. So many times we blind ourselves in not being happy, we do not know how to diminish the importance of and we do not savor what we have simply for not being aware of it. When you attend to one of these events, one believes he is doing them a favor and ...Do you want to hear a secret? It’s quite the other way around. How much happiness you gave to me that day! Only I wait that this, that still it lasts... continues. If not, I can always go back to visit again. Besarkada handi bat!

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30 URTE

Published in DEIA, Oct. 21, 2010


There are moments in the life that one does not expect. They appear and invade everything around with a tremendous force, producing a kind of crash of sensations of the most surprising. Moments that are not expected enrich less. Unique experiences knowing that the transcendent and special they are, you begin to enjoy them long before they even take place. Next October 23 the Conservatory of Leioa celebrates their 30 anniversary. In order to celebrate such event the following choirs will participate: La Kantoría, San Juan Bautista Abesbatza y Leioa Kantika Korala, as well as the Young Orchestra of Leioa, they will perform in the Palacio Euskalduna Auditorium of Bilbao. In the first part of the act, the 3 choral associations directed by Basilio Astulez will sing, while after that it will be the turn of the Young Orchestra of Leioa under the direction of Margarita Lorenzo of Reizabal and finally to conclude the act with Magnificat of Josu Elberdin, in which I will personally collaborate. When they invited me for the concert my feelings were of an immense joy. It’s very special to be able to share stage with them. Not only for who are they, but to be able to experience many things by their side. I have always felt attracted by the sensation of discovering new values that happen after having taken care of one's, taught and somehow given a shape. That labor of the county’s singers that they take care of, in every level, from very many young children that attend the conservatory, gyms... It will be so exciting to be able to feel and experiencing next to them that young energy of new hopes and illusions. So important as in hearing them, is as to see them and being aware that all of them are the product of your their own personal effort, but at the same time of all and every one of the people of the Conservatory of Leioa. We know that it is easier to buy than to create, to check out than to teach but the reward on a personal and human level when you see all that effort you gave out to them is there and amazing...it’s priceless. Zorionak! (Congratulations)


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IGOR ANTÓN

Published in DEIA, Oct. 14, 2010



TO INTERVIEW people, to be able to materialize somebody well known’s work or their professional and personal career in a very short time is something that can be considered an art. In many times it will be an already known person, but other times we have opportunity to be able to read, to see or to listen to a different and original interview, that allows you to discover the interviewee's most interesting and valuable part. A little while ago the program "A vivir Euskadi" (To live The Basque Country) emitted what we recorded the cyclist, Igor Antón from Galdakao, and me, moderated by Aloña Velasco in which she joins two known characters to discuss side by side maintaining a social gathering. As soon as Igor, with his arm bandaged up of his last fall, and I sat at the table we felt comfortable with each other. The conversation was quite fluent and I felt much identified with him. We talked about a lot of things, of the similarities and the differences of our professions, of staying long days away from home, the nerves of the races or the concerts, of the previous ones, the nostalgias of our family, the friends, loneliness... Little by little I was discovering a humble and brave person to the fullest. I have always felt a great admiration for all these road warriors. People that fight to their exhaustion to find his way to the finish line. The very fact of imagining the effort is incredible that each and everyone of the cyclist’s members, from the first one to the very last one, they have to struggle in each lap, in each race. Looking into the Igor’s eyes I discover that incredible essence that has to have anyone that professionally climbs on the bicycle. It was fascinating to discover somebody like him, that saves in his gaze and in his shy smile the sacrifice and the dedication of a simple person, as nearly as all the ones that climb on top of the two wheels to demonstrate that still and thanks to their determination and their enthusiasm of overcoming, are able to reach farther away. Good Luck Igor in the future races, taken care on the road and a great, great deal of strength.

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CATATUMBO

Published in DEIA, Oct. 7, 2010



Midnight, surfing the Net trying to find something. I’m searching but I really don’t have a clear idea of what I want and then all of a sudden, a small but a shocking discovery that I am going to talk about, without even visiting it . The place is in the National Park "Ciénagas de Juan Manuel", northwest of Venezuela, in the flowing river of Catatumbo and the lake Maraciabo. There takes place what today is named "El Relámpago Catatumbo" (Catatumbo Lightning). A lightning that strikes in the same place between 140 and 160 nights a year. Every time that the phenomenon happens it shines brightly between 7 and 10 continuous hours, with a frequency of 50 discharges per minute, around 1,176,000 lightning’s per year, generating 10 % of the ozone layer of the planet. So it is that in only 10 minutes he could generate enough energy to turn on all the bulbs of South America. Scientists allege two reasons for this to happen always in the same place: On one hand the stagnation of thousands of thunderclouds that collide with the mountain ranges that surround the enclave and an the other hand the high concentration of methane gas . Every time I can I observe the electric storms that visit us. The different type of wind that announces the storm. The lightning a true symbol of the ancestral and what's uncontrollable. The spectacular main star of nature that still has been impossible for us to subdue and that interprets his character under the same script, time after time, since the world began. And finally the thunder, deafening companion that reminds us what we are and what we will never be able to be. In Venezuela they have the belief that the Catatumbo Lightning has place because thousands of glowworms concentrate together at that point to honor the fathers of the Creation. I do not know what explanation, unscientific, we could give to the capricious distribution of our lightning’s, but as soon as I can I will enjoy their forms, lights and explosions again. A whole spectacle within the reach of everyone.

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LABORDETA

Published in DEIA, Sept. 30, 2010



WHEN I think about José Antonio Labordeta it always comes to my mind the picture of that type of person who we all have at home, friendly, communicator, even having friends in hell and that begins to talk to any stranger around, establishing a generous and ally conversation, as if they known each other all their lives. It is of great virtue that normally accompanies the goodhearted, intelligent people and who loves to delight live life to its fullest. José Antonio Labordeta Subías was born in Zaragoza in March 1935 and he has been an authentic person where there are. Writer, singer-songwriter, screenwriter, actor, television host and politician are some of his occupations that this illustrious Aragonese has done during his life career. Without any doubt he is well known by the public in hosting the television program "Un País en la Mochila” (A Country in the Backpack) and for his facet as a congressman for the Chunta Aragonesista, Labordeta has also published 20 records and a long list of books that certify without any doubt the plurality and the eclecticism of this human being that in the course of his life has harvested the adhesions of some, the criticisms of others and the affection of almost all. It catches my attention how there are ideals in life that it seems one cannot develop or evolving, beliefs that apparently can only have a road, a way of doing things. The same ones that denounce and accuse some people of controlling, to subjugate the will of others are then the first ones in doing exactly the same thing, obliging their fellow colleagues not to materialize their ideas under new points of view.

Once we shared stage, with some curious anecdotes and it was a pity that, already because of his health problems, he couldn’t participate in Etxea. But we are left with his example. The modus operandi of doing things as one believes he should do, without listening to no one, neither ones nor the others. The pure essence of a free man.

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Photo by J.F. Moreno, from the elmundo.es.

Jarraipena

Published in DEIA, Sept. 23, 2010



THEY SAY that magic is something that exists but it can not be normally seen. I do not know if this is right, but what I do think is that when it appears, you feel it. September 18. I arrive to Iruna's bullring (Pamplona). Greetings, hugs and a kind of tension that encourages you to feel the intensive the moment. With the so-called spectacle Amorena´s Children - Amorenaren Kimuak celebrated the 150th anniversary of the Retinue of the Gigantes and Cabezudos (a carnival figure with an enormous head) of Iruña (Pamplona). A century and half of work, music, dance and the effort of several generations in pursuit of a common project. Absolutely enviable. In the course of the night you lived unique moments. It was so curious to me to see the reconstructed workshop, which originally was in Estafeta Street, where the Agote Tadeo Amorena, had constructed the giants. I couldn’t stop looking at them. So enormous and dancing in an amazing way, surrounded by the kilikis and zaldikos joining along with the music a fascinating collage. 14,000 exultant people in the stands shared with all of us that fantastic and unforgettable moment. They participated among others, groups like The Pamplonesa, Jarauta, gaiteros (the bagpipers) and txistularis (the Basque flutist) of the Town Council of Iruña and Josetxo Goia who composed a special theme for this occasion. While I was interpreting the theme Muskerraren Balsa & La Balso de Comoboscuro from my record Bilbao Hora 00.00h, with the ally of the giants dancing, I came to realize how marvelous the results come out of a theme composed in a determined moment and under some concrete circumstances and when you present it, it begins to sustain life and then, one does not know where it is headed to neither the roads it will take. Giants, zaldikos and kilikis, came to life, one more time, forging stories that joined the people in a collective way in becoming magical that join illusions, efforts and hopes. Mila esker (Thank you) for sharing it with me and zorionak (congratulations) to you all.

Photograph by Javier Sesma

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STEVE JORDAN

Published in DEIA, Sept. 16, 2010




IN my journey through the North American lands I have coincided with so many different types of people that I give faith of the North American country’s idiosyncrasy, so known but at the same time so unknown. Last year in October and thanks to my participation in the International Accordion’s Festival in San Antonio, Texas, I met one of those music’s myths. A Texan accordionist so-called Steve Jordan, born in Elsa in 1939 and that has been one of the greatest referent inside of the music called Tex-Mex. In 1718, San Antonio’s city was founded in Texas. With the arrival of European people to the north of Mexico and later with their expulsion to Texas after the Mexican revolution, they created their own musical style combining rhythms, instruments and their different cultures. Steve Jordan has been an authentic legend of the accordion learning to play it on his own and becoming the introducer of the polka in styles as in jazz, rock music, blues and pop. Long hair, an eye patch, beard and an indubitable personal attraction added to a true genius's innate qualities that I met those days in which I was recording a couple of new themes for my album HERRIA along with the Gilbert Velásquez, one of the greatest and famous producers of the moment. Steve left us the last August. Still I remember the autograph that he signed me in that little dark and melancholic show bar, in which you could breathe the intensive and unique atmosphere. Here, when we listen to Tex-Mex we always relate it to Mexico and it´s curious to know that in reality it picks up the different styles of Europe, United States and Mexico almost in equal shares. Things are seldom as they seem to appear, either in a musical style or like judging a person by his looks; eccentric, strange and different, in the case of Steve Jordan, that holds one of those unique and extraordinary examples that treasured in his fingers the secret of genius and talent.

Photograph by Gabe Hernandez


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Zentzuak

Published in DEIA Sept. 9, 2010


In this Aste Nagusia (The festivals of Bilbao) I have had opportunity to enjoy a night of fireworks aboard the Euskal Herria. While they exploded I thought about how spectacular that they were in the visual level and in how the human being is able to appreciate with his sight what surrounds him; so much that he has become his most important sense. But while the colors and different forms followed I thought about the little importance we give to our other senses. What would happen if to those fireworks we took their sound away? The vision would not be so spectacular and everything would get pretty much decaffeinated. What looked like the heart of the matter, it just so happens that it requires a fully-developed equilibrium with the other senses to achieve enjoying the event to its most. In the same way some days ago they emitted the concert that we offered in the Kursaal last February with the Euskadi´s Symphony Orchestra and me, for Caja Laboral´s 50th anniversary. I recorded it and seen it a couple days after. I really not like seeing myself in recordings or in television, not because of nothing in particular but because I like to live experiences to the fullest, feeling the whole possible intensity of the moment and when I see myself in any recording, I always feel a strange sensation. Perhaps is that lived moment was so spectacular that to remember makes me feel nostalgia about it and the sensation that what you see is somehow like a substitute of the same. Looking at the video I realize that what I see does not keep the intensity and the strength that I felt when I played those themes with the sound of the orchestra behind me. The image is perfect but the sound, the presence, the smell, sensations are not the same. I have always thought that the image was the most important thing and I realize now that nothing is indispensable and that each element, for as small and secondary that it seems, it is fundamental. Everything has a complicated equilibrium in the world and with the sight, the ear, and the sense of smell, tact or taste we can even enjoy the following step from summer to autumn, how fortunately lucky we are.


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Asmoak

Published in DEIA on July 29, 2010



THIS is the last column till September. Arriving, I do not know if deserved or not but something usual, summer break, to take in air and somehow also a get away to come back to the month that announces the return of autumn, the end of heat and the beginning of the school year. Right now I’m re-reading all my columns I have in my computer files published in Deia. The subjects of the articles are about all types of information from exhibitions, events, current affairs or anecdotes, even nature, professional, personal, even particularly dedicated to certain people. Looking through them, reading some and skipping others, I discover the evolution of them, since that first article till the last one, I present now. There are times that I am pleasantly surprised, others less, even some that I barely remembered. Little by little I am looking back at my memories, almost virtual to this fantastic and curious stage that I'm living as a writer of an opinion column. On many occasions at my concerts, I realize that people who approach me do it with real passion, and wanting to know more, not only who is interpreting the music but also the person who has a towel around his neck wiping the sweat or taking a drink in a local bar. That is when I realize that all these columns, just as all the things one does, are a true reflection of what one thinks and feels. These writings agglutinate a very important part of my personality. In it I capsize many ideas and opinions overturning many ideas and opinions and mixing them with experiences or feelings that crop up whenever one begins to shape the new column that touches this week. Another opportunity to take what one has inside to express what one seeks out. I am fortunate to be able to live this experience that I surely will miss during this period of rest. See you in a month, have a wonderful summer everyone. Mila esker eta laster arte! (Thank you and see you soon!)


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BENETAZKOA

Published in DEIA on July 22, 2010



In this very moment they are trying to scan every inch of the most representative image of the Bardenas, the head of Castildetierra with a boulder included, to proceed to build an exact replica of him, when inevitably natural causes it to collapse. We have similar examples, such as replicas of the caves of Altamira or Ekain. Today, originality is difficult to find, it’s hard to work on new creative bases. We are too influenced by what surrounds us and often we do not find a way to live and, above all, to create our own style. Copy is neither better nor worse than creating, it's just different and often the copy far exceeds the original but between copies and originals there must be a balance, which today is absent in sight. Replies in our world are increasingly successful and flood harder a wide range of opportunities which we can access for. We all want our children to study in the best places and have an outstanding preparation. But also, many times those developments restrict them in some way, the creativity and originality of the individual. I myself am self-taught of the musical instrument triki, it’s a slower and more expensive way of learning. But at the same time, during this process strengthens the spirit of overcoming, forcing yourself to create and develop a unique style of doing things ... something much more difficult to find and carry out, perhaps in part, by I mentioned before. I have a musician friend who after studying for years in the conservatory, after finishing, I said to me: "Now I need as many years to forget what I´ve learn.” and to tell the truth he is not so wrong about it. The notions and concepts are fundamental, but also it’s very important the personal contribution of each one. Everything in life depends on a robust, yet fragile balance; all depends on it, even dependence.


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BENETAZKOA

Published in DEIA on July 22, 2010


In this very moment they are trying to scan every inch of the most representative image of the Bardenas, the head of Castildetierra, with a boulder included, to proceed to build an exact replica of him, when inevitably natural causes will cause it to collapse. We have similar examples, such as replicas of the caves of Altamira or Ekain. Today, originality is difficult to find, it’s hard to work on new creative bases. We are too influenced by what surrounds us and often we do not find a way to live and, above all, to create our own style. Copy is neither better nor worse than creating, it's just different and often the copy far exceeds the original but between copies and originals there must be a balance, which today is absent in sight. Replies in our world are increasingly successful and flood harder a wide range of opportunities which we can access for. We all want our children to study in the best places and have an outstanding preparation. But also, many times those developments restrict them in some way, the creativity and originality of the individual. I myself am self-taught of the musical instrument triki, it’s a slower and more expensive way of learning. But at the same time, during this process strengthens the spirit of overcoming, forcing yourself to create and develop a unique style of doing things ... something much more difficult to find and carry out, perhaps in part, by I mentioned before. I have a musician friend who after studying for years in the conservatory, after finishing, I said to me: "Now I need as many years to forget what I´ve learn.” and to tell the truth he is not so wrong about it. The notions and concepts are fundamental, but also it’s very important the personal contribution of each one. Everything in life depends on a robust, yet fragile balance; all depends on it, even dependence.


www.kepajunkera.com

Ahaztezina

Published in DEIA on July 22, 2010







ALL people should keep a special memory to those persons who developed unknown facets, in areas such as creativity, knowledge, society ... We all know that with the type of life that we lead, mostly we rely more on the immediacy of our existence. What only exists is what takes place now. This requires of us to always stay alert to any changes occurring around us, but at the same time it allows us to drop into oblivion things that have been the result of the effort and the devotion of many people who have dedicated their lives to enrich, in many ways, our existence. A few days ago I read an article in this newspaper, dedicated to the work being done by the José Miguel de Barandiaran´s Foundation and the inauguration of the Barandiaran´s museum in the town of Ataun. Let’s take, for example, On Joxe Miel. Born in 1889 and was ordained priest in 1914. In 1916 he found several dolmens in the mountains of Aralar and from then on until 1991, date of death, On Joxe Miel has conducted an incredible job on our culture, our past history and, above all, our essence as a country. How many of our kids know this? How many of us know of his work, and the magnitude of it? And like him, how many others do we know more? We have the obligation to collect and make available to all of us, old and young, what we inherited from characters as fascinating as Aita Barandiaran and so many others. We can not afford to lose these incredible messages by the apathy and disinterest which is growing in many areas of our society. I would like to dedicate this column to all the people, whether in foundations, museums, etc.., worked hard and struggled so that our memory does not blur in the mists of time and much of that knowledge created, redeemed and investigated by these true heroes, will not be forgotten and we, all of us and those to come, enjoy and make use of this treasure.

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Bidean

Published in DEIA on July 8, 2010





Those who know me know that I like the contrasts and intense emotions. This past year I lived incredible experiences. It has been a period of unique experiences that, luckily, I could share with my family. Throughout our lives, the stages follow one another and the inexorable passage of time marks, in a dictatorial manner, the beginning and the end of them. Completed, in part, my experience outside of Euskadi and coming back home, to the beginning of my dates of concerts, unmissed events that I already started to miss accompanied by the musicians of my band. After 2,400 miles in three days, two concerts and many moments of laughter, reflection and complicity, we're almost there. I'm about to glimpse the familiar green sign that says Bizkaia announcing that we are back home. One of those weekends that make you addicted. We had on Friday night, a concert in Girona, Cataluña and Saturday in the town Miajadas of Caceres. Two different places, far away from each other but where I could see how music, my band members and the contact live with the public are ingredients whose absence you can hardly get tired of. It´s difficult to explain how it feels when I listen to my music with the accompaniment of my players, the keyboards, txalaparta, bass, drums, alboka, percussion ... all bringing together the rhythms and melodies to many unknown places. It's was incredible to play my songs again with my band that makes it great that one has humility done in composing. Fascinating was to be engage with this drug of giving live concert. A rather curious composition’s place, sounds and silences that has a strange bipolarity: takes you closer to the sublime and nails you to the earth to find out that many times in the bare things, as simple, is the true essence of what is wanted. The music shared, hotels, roads, lights, watts, the sweat, the public, nerves, the night and, of course, the moon ... Will you join us? You’re all invited.

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BETI BIZI

Published by the newspaper DEIA on July 1, 2010




Innovate and create something new, propose options, so far unknown, is something that is becoming increasingly hard. There is on one hand a simple calculation of probability and the other partly because our sense of wonder is narrowing a bit. Today, thanks to new technologies, our access to information is almost constant and in this globalized world we call that with one click of our mouse can travel virtually from one continent to another; it seems that nothing is going to draw attention. A few years ago the writer and bertsolari (Basque improviser singer) Xabier Amuriza had compiled a series of old Biscay songs among those that had carried out a selection and released an album that had a wide acceptance. But he still had remained material for another recording project and asked me if I was interested in working. Right away I said yes and began to imagine and intuit different ways to carry out this project. Of course, if I start to think about what I first imagined this album would be and it what it has finally become, the truth is that I am gobsmacked. Bizi Beti is the result of merging between the old Biscayan’s ballads, the voices of Leioa Kantika Korala completing the final product with the merge of the same with electronic music, resulting in a new recording project with a different proposal, brave and without complex. But getting here is essential to have the talent and dedication of a large team of people. I want to thank a very special way to Jose Luis Canal by schedules and arrangements he has been carried out, Basilio Astulez, Leioa Kantika Korala, Xabier Sarasola for that very special vision he has contributed to this album, and most particularly to Xabier Amuriza, great supporter of this project and I appreciate his generosity in sharing it with me. And finally each and every one of those who have taken part in this record, because to me all the notes are equally important, both the rhythm just as the melody.


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AZKEN ERRONKA

Published in the newspaper DEIA on June 24, 2010


MY first contact with him was through reading several of his books. What an incredible ability to tell stories filled with strength and flowing in an amazing way! Of all, I was honored with this dedication to me, which is the following:

The oldest music was the human voice. Somehow we could say the man discovered the music within himself, inside each sound of a word of our rude forefathers, even when it was going to be necessary thousands of years before the first one would be formed. The music has always latent within the man, as a possibility, but, multiple and murmuring, it also lived in nature. The birds already singing, the wind whistling in the cavities of the grottoes, the cascades; thunders like a song of Richard Wagner in advance and altogether, and what we can also imagine, was the nature’s great orchestra, where an empty seat awaits the arrival of man. Which finally appeared holding in his hands a bone with holes called flute. And also a round object with a hole, with a skin stretched over the opening, which would receive the name of drum. Also bringing with him his own voice, and without no doubt, was one of the most sublime moments in history of mankind, in which a human being, man or woman, stood up to sing. From there on, it may not appear at first glance, but the songs collected by Kepa Junkera are about this, in this unique recording that surely will seek new directions in the composition and musical interpretations. To sing the language of others is the first challenge.

José Saramago, the prologue for the album ETXEA (2008).

After learning that Saramago had left us, I read again and again and my feelings pile up in my head. What fascinated me most about him was his sincerity and honesty that he has always been. Saramago was not great because of his work or for his Nobel, just of his pure essence. That is the real Nobel that we all should achieve after facing our own destiny, the ultimate challenge. MILA ESKER lagun!!! (THANK YOU, my friend!!!)


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AFRIKA

Published on June 17, 2010 in the newspaper DEIA


The World Cup has just started off, the most important sport event in the world. This year held in South Africa, a country full of contrasts and working hard to make his way to the so-called first world. Interestingly, I received an email from a friend who told me that there is a photographic exhibition in Bilbao, called Desvelos, which is exposed outdoors throughout the wide venue walk of Abandoibarra, between the Guggenheim and the Euskalduna. It shows the snapshots of the Cameroon photographer Angèle Etoundi Essamba and was organized by The Africa House, an association that works to promote relations between Africa and the Spanish State. I've seen several of the photographs of the collection and was surprised by its strength, the contrast and elegance. It is a portrait of African women dressed with the controversial issue of the veil, a very stereotypical view in our society. Angèle has sought to go beyond, offering an elegant and sensual vision of it. And thinking about it, something similar happens to me with Africa. We all have a very specific image of the black continent. Safaris, tribes, hunger, disease, poverty, migration and great poverty, but Africa also has many other aspects that are worth knowing. The fauna and flora, the abundance of raw materials and minerals and the enormous variety of human cultural representations that makes this corner a living oasis, working much the same way about how our planet had to operate long ago. Many times we have that image with what they tell us about them but it is essential not to be satisfied with what they tell us. Let's find answers! Africa is the mirror that reflects our past, a disturbing present and hopefully a more promising future. A corner that still, in which they can say whatever they want; you can savor the full essence of life, even in small sips.

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Berriaren bizia

Published in DEIA on June 10, 2010

Ten years ago, right this time, I presented my first website; kepajunkera.com, and I remember the powerful feeling that I felt at seeing it in the cyberspace. Even at that time it was fascinating to me to be able to “pin up” in the virtual world of the Net, a site in which contents were my own. Since then it has rained a lot and even more in the unstoppable and even maddening world of computing and telecommunications. The contents have changed and even on how to approach them and their subsequent treatment. Now and days, what is appearing on stage, among many others, the blogs, social networks all the time revolutionizing the landscape of the Internet, always in constant evolution. Finally the physical gives way, increasingly, to a virtual and the information support conquest different spaces than the real world. Today, the access to it, to music, to images ... reached almost an endless of huge proportions and we wanted with this new version of kepajunkera.com, which was presented this week, making it in the heart of everything published about my music, to be a place to meet and in consultation, both for the follower as the professional who needs constant updates. At the end this type of work are the result of the efforts of many people, that might not appear in the front row, but without whose efforts and dedication none of this would be possible. I want to thank each of you who have participated in this project, Bea, Iñaki and in particularly to Sole Calzada, whose talent and hard dedicated work without asking anything in exchange fills each page and each picture with it. Mila esker denori! (Millions of thanks, to all) And again, this very special feeling, knowing that in a small corner of the immense virtual universe, exist a place where my music, my projects and I can also say that even part of my life, for anyone who wants to share. I’ll be waiting! This goes to the three of you!!


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EASTWOOD

Published in DEIA on June 3, 2010





Few people achieve in their work a new way of doing things. Usually they follow the trail of those who have successfully preceded us, to continue the journey. Like every kid, I loved to play cowboys and Indians, embodied by actors that have marked an era, the Westerns heroes imposing their law, galloping with the blow of a gun and rifle. Among them there was one that always caught my attention. His strength, far from depending on what weapons he had, all was resided in his eyes, in his way in acting and in that false coldness. Clinton Eastwood Jr. was born in San Francisco, California and has just celebrated his 80th birthday, being in top form. He did not have a comfortable beginning and before he began acting in films, he had to work as a lumberjack, bricklayer, pianist, forest firefighter, etc. We all know his films, awards and success he has achieved in his life. But besides the economic and fame treasured by Clint Eastwood, he is a great example of a man seeking to improve and be consistent with himself. Throughout his career being an actor, director, producer, screenwriter, and musician he has gone from being a star of action, to give action to the human feelings and thus showing us the real hero he is, being of flesh and bone, everything done with an amazing genius. As he often says "in life you can not lose time, we must fight for what you love. If you find it, success is guaranteed." There are certain people who, having begun their career in a particular way, overcoming fears and probably driven by new concerns, gives a twist to their career and begins to explore other unknown territories. Clint Eastwood is one of those examples, in which to discover, does not matter the age or circumstances or difficulties. Life is divided into two kinds of people, those who watch and those who do. I bet on the second. You just have to, above all, believe in yourself.

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IKUSTEZINA

May 27, 2010

The music or sound occurs because a body vibrates and it is transmitted into the environment. There have been many who have tried to clarify the reasons for why the music and the sounds exercise such power inside of each and everyone of us. How can something so present in our lives be so unknown? For many years, my life has been and is linked to everything that has to do with music and anything that is related to the world of the seven notes and their various combinations awakens my curiosity to an almost endless thirst for knowledge. In ancient times, the music was used to communicate with the gods, and in Greece it was closely linked to the mathematics, specially, thanks to Pythagoras assigns the seven musical notes and talks about the number 7 as the perfect number, calling his attention that the music, as the gods, creates emotion and being invisible, that is, something that cannot be seen but produces visible effects. Today it is known that the music is able to heal both mentally and physically, that each note has its own vibration and that vibration may change a heart rate, creating in us an altered state of consciousness and it can even get us mad. The music is to feel it, embrace it and make it our own so it can become part of us in an exciting adventure into our inner selves. Clearly it is a language, a method of communication but at the same time it is science and art and as such we should take it into consideration when creating a better and advanced society. We can not pass up the opportunity to continue on seeking its knowledge and, above all, its understanding. We must go further on and discover all the richness that lies within that accompanies us daily in our lives in which we take as a common everyday thing. We must evaluate it much more, because it is an important part of ourselves and what surround us.


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JAIALDIA

May 20, 2010

Our backgrounds, our roots, a sense of belonging are an importance in the human being. We all feel the urgent need to belong to something, to feel that we share a common origin and in a similar way to feel and live it. But when the individual, for whatever reason, has to travel far and continue his existence in a different place from where he was born this feeling invades his soul stronger, even forcing him to carry out a series of actions to offset somehow his “hunger” for his roots, his essence. Throughout the past week I’ve been in Boise, Idaho recording, performing and enjoying the party in which it has become for me my stay there. The truth is I’ve been totally amazed at the dedication, love and the attitude of the people there. It’s a shame I can not stay at “Jaialdia”, a festival that the Basque community in Boise celebrates every five years and this year it will be from July 26 till the 1st of August, in which 2005 the festival attracted over 30,000 people. There are various performances of music, Basque dances, rural sports, etc… bringing together thousands of people seeking their roots in a place to meet. A real Basque party, thousands of miles away from the cultural epicenter of it. This is the magic of the people far away from their homeland experiencing our same backgrounds in a passionate way. Their feelings, that maybe because of the distance or the absence produced a healthy envy in me making me live a very special feeling, as unique as the American men and women of Basque descent live it. Here no one asks if he can dance the Basque dances, if you know our history, or if you speak the language and even whether you have Basque descent. All that is required is an absolute respect, the major of passions and the maximum excitement about sharing with others the only thing that makes them different, their love for the Basque. To live like this, to the fullest, is what I always look for and without any doubt in Boise…
“I lived it!”


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INGUMA (Magical Goblin)

May 13, 2010

Being the first in anything is something I’ve have never lost a good night sleep, in fact, being able to achieve something before anyone else doesn’t particularly attract me. What really is important that, in any area of life, is not to do thinks quickly or even get there before anyone, instead in how and what has been done to get to it. There are always many roads to follow to reach the same destiny and we are who choose on or another depending on the needs and efforts that we are willing to give. The extraordinary guitarist and living legend of flamenco, Paco de Lucia, has been invested Doctor Honorius Cause at the age of 63 by the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston (USA). Emulating musicians such as Sting, B.B. King, Aretha Franklin or my friend Pat Metheny, the author of “Entre dos aguas” or “La Barrosa” has become the fist Spanish citizen to receive such recognition. But in my opinion, what does stand out is that someone like Paco de Lucia, who has devoted his life to the art of flamenco and the guitar, has achieved something so important. Until recent years, the flamenco musical style was not only minority but also stigmatized, but the example of the “maestro” his efforts and those of many others, this very particular musical style has achieved a more consistent level of recognition in its essences, as in the words of Paco “I have spent many years fighting for things like this to happen.” They say all things are impossible while you think they are and I would add that anything is possible if you dream and believe in yourself. Zorionak! “Maestro” , with or without a doctorate you were, is and will remain, an unique artist with a real flamenco “magic” in your soul, which exudes humility, had work and effort because nobody can reach the peak only armed with talent. In the best case, it’s inherent in our being and it is the work and our effort that transforms this talent into genius and that, my friend you know well.

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ARDIEN NAGUSI

May 6, 2010


Throughout this time in the States which as become something like my headquarters, I have come to meet so many interesting people, for many different reason. For the Basques, America has become a very special place. There were many who one day decided to leave everything and embarked on the adventure of looking for a better future for them, far away, on this continent which then became a habor of dreams, promises and opportunities. Today I will talk about an “authentic person” like many others, showing us that human beings are capable of anything when he proposes it. Ramon Echeveste, born in Doneztebe, Navarre who currently lives in Firebaugh California, dedicated to sheep raising. But the story that interests us begins when Ramon at the age of 20 decided to leave his home to try his luck in the United States with nothing but what he had on, 2 coins in his pocket and a heart full of dreams and illusions. He arrived in Fresno from the hand of the Western Range Association created by Basques in charge of bringing people of Euskal Herria to America in order to find them work among them in the different businesses. He began working as a shepherd for different farmers until one day he realized that he actually ran the company on his own but without the benefits of it so then bravely he takes the chance and creates his own sheep company. Those years were tough, exciting and every intense, working from sunrise to sunset, battling coyotes, adverse weather conditions and the worst of all, the loneliness. Within time he founded a family, with his thousands of sheep and today he is a recognized successful sheep raiser in the area. In this own way, Ramon has also created something from the nothing. The necessity sharpens the wit, they say “beharra” (Basque word meaning necessity) Ramon says, and the truth is that from my experience I would say it is. Echeveste is a self-made man, like many others, tanned in a thousand battles that exemplify the extraordinary ability of the human being to overcome the difficulties, something we all have inside, right?

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LUX AURUMQUE

April 29, 2010

While watching the video that a friend of mine just sent me through e-mail, a deep emotion comes over me remembering the experience that we did at the Technological Park in Zamudio. At that time we divide our band into two rooms: txalaparta, drums and alboka in one room and in the other the guitar, bass and the accordion, using a sophisticated technological system we could play at the same time, four songs of our repertoire. I have to say that, that experience really caught my attention, showing me that with advance science we have an infinite of possibilities open to us to create. On this occasion I was invited to visit an Internet site in which this video was absolutely fascinating. In it, the American orchestra director, Eric Whitacre, directs 185 singers from 12 different countries singing “Lux Aurumque” a song composed by him. So far, normal, right? Now what is so curious about the whole affair is that the members of this virtual choir recorded their performances at their home! They later sent their recording to the director for further post-production. To do this, Eric published the scores and a video with him directing the theme for all those interested in participating in the choir, to then be used to record their voices in it. The final result was an original virtual choir, innovative and open up to anyone who was interested in taking part in. I think that things in life should be exploited to the fullest. Normally we all have the idea that technology and scientific advances thwart us in a way, and that our creativity is already given out to us. But somehow I think we should advantage of it turning things around. Let’s just say that these advances can serve us as impetus for our imagination in using them to develop an exponentially creative project, for example, this choir. The music, image, space, assembly, editing and effects are perfectly talented, the imagination and the creativity of the human being.

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LAS MIL TONÁS

April 22, 2010


Fortunately, the frontiers, those imaginary lines created to separate or delimited cities, towns, regions or countries are really just that, imaginary and nonexistent. Although circumstantial and even administratively try to define the bounders, we have to surrender to the evidences that the customs, the languages or the cultures are not classifiable in such a drastic way. Among the people and the neighboring regions there is always a closer cultural relationship, a much greater complicity. Throughout the years 2008 and 2009, the Cantabrian journalist Maxi de la Peña held a series of 51 interviews of renowned names of the Cantabrian folk, all collected and published in his book, “La tierra de las Mil Tonás”. From the veterans as Lines Vejo, Adela Gómez, El Malvís de Tanos, etc. to younger names as Chema Puente, Begoña Lozano, Miguel Cadavieco or Alba Gutiérrez, having them all participated as witnesses of a musical reality unknown to most of the public. My friend Maxi is a curious person, filled with many inquietudes, throwing him into an unusual fervor to what he is passionate about. That’s what most captivated me of him when we met. Some time ago he mentioned his idea along with Dulce Pontes, Uxía, Luis Delgado, Ana Alcaide and Paco Díez to write a short pretext for his book. This book is a collection of testimonies over the musical human journey in which shows, as well said by Dulce Pontes “folklore is a musical array expression of the people, for excellence”. Maxi de la Peña has done a great job in favor of their traditions and their culture. I hope that this book will be an open door to future projects, to complement the musical cultural map of a region, as rich and varied as ours, in which people from Basque Country, Asturian, Galician, Castile and Cantabrian etc… sharing a common essence and understood in a thousand different ways.


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USADIO ZAHARRAK

April 16, 2010

When did “civilized” man lose his contact with nature? When did the huge explosion of our bound that connected us to the circle of live occur? When did we move from the Palaeolithic to the Neolithic or what is the same, when did man stop being a nomadic hunter and gatherer to become a pastor, rancher or farmer. A few weeks ago while I was channel hopping, I came upon an incredible documentary called The Lion Hunt with the Bow. It explained how hunters from the Gaos´s tribe, located in the region of Yatakala, Nigeria hunted lions with the help of a bow, arrows and the Nadyi, a powerful poison that attacks the nervous system. Throughout the documentary they narrated on how they produced, all by hand, everything needed for this task. The bows were made of Farev´s branches, a kind of African bush, the arrows from rush wood, while the village’s blacksmith forges the tips with an amazing master, drawing series of spirals so that the poison would adhere better to it. The poison is obtained by cooking the fruit of a tree called Nadyinya. The making of this poison itself is considered very “serious” for them, produced only every 4 years. To do so they head into the savannah, far away from the village, because the “poison” is an evil thing. The people of the tribe responsible for making this poison carries out a series of rituals so that the evil will not affect then or stay joined to them and they can return to be normal men. It’s striking that what for us would be pride to own and to use this, for the people of Gaos the Nadyi is something evil, terrible, something that embodies almost the forbidden. How many customs, atavistic rituals that bounded us to our mother Earth, showing respect has been forgotten. Today, this is a type of current or a new awareness that fosters a spiritual return to our roots, the truth is that we have it a bit complicated but we are obligated to take this into serious account.

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ESTATUAK

April 9, 2010


In July 2001, the orchestra’s director, Daniel Barenboim, born in Buenos Aires, with Russian roots, being Spanish and Israeli Citizen, created a huge controversy by directing a musical by the German Composer Richard Wagner in Israel, being accused of pro-Nazi and fascist by some of the people. The worst of the conflicts is to be categorized by our fellow men, as into being good or bad under our sole judgment. The last example is what happened in Wigmore Hall, located in central London, where offered a concert in charged by the Jerusalem Quartet, consisting of musicians of the West-Eastern Divan, the famous orchestra of Daniel Barenboim in which brings together Arab and Israeli musicians. In 10 minutes after the beginning of the concert several persons belonging to a Pro-Palestinian group began to “break” the performance, under the grounds that the Quartet is a “cultural ambassador for Israel” carrying slogans against the occupation and the “apartheid state” that plagues the Palestinian people. I’m not going into judging the conflict itself. For many years this area of the world has been suffering like many others, a useless war, cruel and ruthless. And what I disagree is in the misuse, again, of categorizing the people. I do not think that these musicians are guilty of anything and less is the echo of a classical music concert is going against anyone’s rights. Besides this quartet that has worked closely with Daniel Barenboim, which is the first person in the world being Israeli and having an honorary Palestinian citizenship at the same time, after the concert in Ramallah in 2008, “I wish that my new status holds as example of Israeli-Palestinian coexistence,” said by Barenboim. But sometimes by ones or by others, the only thing conflicts do is to pollute and entangle everything they touch. I really do think that music is a tool to unite, an artistic expression that should be above all political ideals, religious or skin colors. Let us fight for it! No doubt we will succeed.

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COLORADO

April 2, 2010

INSPIRATION a word that is the artistic discipline that mostly stirs up mixed emotions. Each one of us looks for it differently. I am among those who believe that the constant work and seeking new experiences as a mean of personal enrichment. Feeling, experiencing them is the key that leads me to my inspiration where the notes, words, colors, etc… flows. Taking advantage of my trip to California I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to visit the legendary Grand Canyon. The desert is a real special place that has always attracted men’s attention, the nakedness and the haunting loneliness is, at the same time, thrilling and engaging. Taking off on a helicopter from a nearby village from Las Vegas we flew to the Grand Canyon. During the flight I noticed the strength of the landscape shaped by the Colorado River and their tributary, which for thousands of years has been burrowing into the ground become one of the most incredible natural wonders of this planet. Upon arriving you get a creepy feeling of smallness seeing the huge canyon and you being to experience a great amount of amazing sensation. We reached the edge of a cliff and you were afraid to look down. It’s spectacular! Suddenly you begin to imagine the Haskiri and the Zuri´s Indians living and being part of this authentic geological museum, this immense work of art, 350 kilometers long with a depth of 1600 meters and nearly being 2 million years old. This is pure inspiration! It is so awkward to find that near the artificial city as Las Vegas can exist a magical and energetic place as the Grand Canyon. Today we begin our Easter vacation in which we can take advantage of these days to visit, discover and enjoy different places, living unique sensation. The contact with nature awakens our earthly side. It is very important to develop that part of our being, because that way we will stay in touch with whom we are, an essential part of the universe.

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