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.

kepajunkera.com

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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