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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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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HABANA SESSIONS

March 4, 2010

Many times the audience attending my performances tells me what most attracted them of my music are the strength, energy and freshness which they enjoy so much in my concerts. The magic of a live concert is something that I suppose one never learns how it comes upon. It exists, appears and suddenly wraps you up in its spell. It may probably be the result of many factors that come together at a particular point. From that view point came out the idea for the album HABANA SESSIONS the second part of the project FANDANGO whose first exponent was Provença Sessions, recorded with the string quartet Melonious Quartet. This CD, HABANA SESSIONS, is a compilation of 18 familiar themes with one unpublished song called “Maume”. The city of Havana, where the album was entirely recorded, a magical meeting, a spot surrounded by mystery, where you can senses that something special is about to happen, in every second. The atmosphere, the sunshine and the Cubans pushes you to empathize with the feelings of that place. There I met Rolando Luna, an excellent Cuban pianist who exemplifies like no one else the energy, pace and talent that the Cuban musicians treasure. Together, Rolando in front of his piano and I with my trikitixa without further details, have recorded, almost artisanal I would say, all 11 musical pieces for this album. Today we are blamed much that the music carries “deceits” technology thanks to all the computers and engineers, but HABANA SESSIONS is entirely the contrary. It is true that we could have tried to find another register, a new touch but I prefer to present it just as it was recorded in the studio, with that energy and complicity between Roland and I, which was occurring in the recording session, where sparks came out from our instruments, looking at each other, driven by the rhythm and the mutual feeling of the music. This CD is dedicated to all those who for years have been able to feel the emotions of my concerts. I really hope listening to this album, simple, intimate yet energetic you can feel something similar, proving once again that is in one self and in no one else where lies the desired magic of the music.
MILA ESKER! (THANK YOU)

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ZIURTASUNA

February 25, 2010

Today, many people are heading to this type of belief, which is enacted that each one makes their own reality, the same as, what one thinks and believes in somehow designs what may become their future. I do think in a way there is a point to it but the true of the matter is a little bit more complicated than all that. It is true that there are times in life that one without knowing why feels the absolute security that what he thinks and wants will become reality. Something like the famous phrase, “faith can move mountains” but adapted to the XXI century. I’m a big admirer of the trikitixa or the diatonic accordion and the tambourine playing simultaneously. It’s simple but very powerful but at the same time I harbour a dream of those so called “impossible”. Tomorrow, Friday at the Kursaal Palace in San Sebastian and to mark the 50th anniversary of the Basque Bank, Caja Laboral I will share stage with the Euskadi´s Symphony Orchestra and a few friends who will accompany me on this important event. To step on stage and to feel the orchestra behind you, stirs up mixed feelings, on one hand the huge responsibility it holds but also the perfect opportunity to live the music intensely, trying to break barriers and experience a dream that seldom becomes true in the career of a traditional musician. I want to thank Caja Laboral for their efforts and also for remembering the Euskadi´s Symphony Orchestra as for me in such an important day. When I started in this music, at that time in which the diatonic accordion was considered a “humble” instrument, not to say some else, little could I image that years later I would see myself on stage accompanied by the maestros of Euskadi´s Symphony Orchestra to play my composed music, arranged of course for this occasion. In life there are lessons to be learned and not to be forgotten. One important is that complexes and limits, contrary to popular belief, are not created by the circumstance but by oneself. The sooner we believe in this, the faster we will be able to reach our goals.

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