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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