Series of presentations about Basque Culture and Language within the "Puzzling Pieces of the European Puzzle" Comenius project (2011-2013) Basque Culture, music & dance, history, origins, art, and so on. "Puzzling Pieces of the European Puzzle" Comenius proiektuaren (2011-2013) barruan egindako aurkezpenak. Euskal kultura, musika, historia eta ezaugarriak tratatzen dituzten aurkezpenak.

1. BASQUE MUSIC
FROM TRADITION TO MODERNITY

2. BASQUE TRADITIONAL
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
• WIND INSTRUMENTS:
- TXISTUA
- ALBOKA
- DULTZAINA
- TRIKITIXA
• PERCUSSION INSTRUMENTS:
- TTUNTTUNA
- TXALAPARTA
- PANDEROA
- DANBOLINA
http://www.herrimusika.org

3. TXISTUA eta DANBOLINA
• The best known and
widespread musical
instrument.
• A three-holed straight flute.
• In the Basque Country it is
usually played
accompanied by a
danbolina (a type of drum),
this way one player alone
can provide music and
rythm at the same time.
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4. XIRULA
&
TTUNTTUNA
• Similar to the txistu,it is a three-
holed straight flute.
• A Xirula is shorter than a txistu,
so its sound is high-pitched.
Today it is only played in the
northeast of the Basque
Country.
• Xirula is usually accompanaied
by a ttunttuna.
• A ttunttuna has 6 strings which
are hit by a stick.
• Xirulariak plays both the xirula
and ttunttuna.
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5. ALBOKA
• It’s a Basque wind
instrument from the clarinet
family.
• It is believed to derive from
the musical instruments that
shepherds had.
• Its body is formed by a
double reed and cowhorn.
• It’s played by breathing in
and out at the same time.
(circular breathing).
• It is usually accompanied by
a tambourine player.

6. DULTZAINA & ATABALA
• A dultzaina is a
double-reed
woodwind instrument.
• Usually accompanied
by the rhythm of the
atabala (a type of
drum).
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7. TRIKITIXA & PANDEROA
• This is the latest Basque wind
instrument called trikitixa. It
dates from the end of XIXth
century. It was initially well-
widespread among farmers, but
now it is everywhere.
• Usually accompanied by a
tambourine.
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8. TXALAPARTA
• An ancient Basque
instrument. Soundboards that
are played with short and
thick sticks.
• It is always played by 2
players. Producing a binary
sound , one marks the first
part called "ttakun”and the
other one "errena".
• In ancient times it was used
as a means of
communication. Today it is
just a musical instrument.
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9. BERTSOLARITZA
• It is the art of improvising verses with a given tune,
rhythm and a metrical structure.When you listen to them
it is not only the technical part that is important but also the
arguments used in the verses.We can say that it belongs to
the family of poetry and rhetoric. They are traditional sung
verses.
Neurriz eta errimaz
kantatzea hitza
horra hor zer kirol mota
den bertsolaritza.
(Xabier Amuriza)
-EGAÑA, Andoni; GARZIA, Joxerra; SARASUA, Jon (2001). Bat-bateko bertsolaritza: gakoak eta
azterbideak.
http://www.bertsozale.com

10. BERTSOLARITZA
The art of sung verses from pubs to the stage
• Even if the earliest written proof of its existence
dates from 1452, what we know today as
bertsolaritza derives from war verses in the XVIIIth
century..
• Originally bertsolariak used to improvise their
verses at bars, pubs, inns and cider houses.People
used to have a great time with them as they were
very funny and teasing at the same time.
• In order to change this reality some famous
bertsolaris organised an official competition. Taking
it for the first time to the stage.
• In 1935 bertsolaritza started to become a
profession.

11. The new Basque songs
• To create a new personnality
• To denounce injustice
• To show people a new awareness
• To spread hope
• To bring literature nearer to people
• To have a cultural and social approach
CONSEQUENTLY…
• The new songs became an active tool to claim things.
• In 1965 the movement “Ez dok amairu” was born.
OBJECTIVES

12. The birth of “Ez Dok Amairu
• The movement’s logo was a txalaparta (the ancient musical instrument)
• The name of the movement was given by Jorge Oteiza (the famous
sculptor).
• The idea dawn on Mikel Laboa (one of our best known singers) after he
had got to know the movement Els Setze Jutges in Catalonia.
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13. 1970: BASQUE FOLK MUSIC
• They started to review traditional music and singing.
• After a lot of research, they wanted to create a new
style based on tradition which would be interesting for
young people, too. A style that would survive all along
the XXth century.
• Oskorri is the icon of this musical revolution.
Later on other music bands such as Haizea(1976-
1979) and Izukaitz(1977-1981) did the same.

14. 1980: “RRV: Rock Radical
Vasco”
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–Punk rock music bands were the winners, soloists tended to disappear.
–RRVmusic bands mainly spoke Spanish .Although some music bands
tried to do it in Basque such as Zarama and Hertzainak . Even so the best
known music band was , Kortatu .

15. ELABORATE MUSIC
– One of the best known polyphonist is Joanes Antxieta from Azpeitia.
– An universal composer was Juan Crisostomo Arriaga (Bilbo, 1806-Paris, 1826). He
conducted his first concert at the age of 11.The same as Mozart he was a precocious child.
– Together with him 2 excellent musicians; Pablo Sarasate, a violin player and a composer,
and Julian Gayarre , a singer.
– Usandizaga (Donostia, 1887-1915), Guridi (Gasteiz, 1886-Madril 1961) and Escudero
(Zarautz, 1912 -Donostia, 2002) are some important opera composers. Some important
songs are Mirentxu , Mendi mendian, Amaya, Hamar euskal doinuak or Zigor.
– Choral singing has always been a tradition in the Basque Country , especially thanks to the
church and parish. That’s why at the end of the XIXth century big amateur choral societies
were created. They would mainly sang symphonic choral music. Some examples of this are
the ones from Iruña, Donostia, Errenteria and Bilbao.
Guridi’s Mirentxu
Ordizia’s choir Donostiako Orfeoia

16. MUSICAL DINNERS
In our country these dinners are very common. We do that in big
gastronomic clubs called elkartea. First we have dinnerirst we have dinner with our friends,with our friends,
later we sing very popular Basque songs or we listen to improvised verselater we sing very popular Basque songs or we listen to improvised verse
singers calledsingers called bertsolariak.They are very special singers because they sing
about a topic (given on the spot) and they invent the verses out of the blue.
Bertsolariak (verse singers) are very popular in the Basque country and they
participate in bertso leihaketak (competitions for improvised verse poets)