Music of Basque Country

Basque music refers to the music made in the Basque Country, reflecting traits related to its society/tradition, and devised by people from that territory. While traditionally more closely associated to rural based and Basque language music, the growing diversification of its production during the last decades has tipped the scale in favour of a broad definition.

Traditional music

Basque traditional music is a product of the region's historic development and strategic geographical position on the Atlantic arch at a crossroads between mountains ( Cantabrian mountain range, Pyrenees) and plains (Ebro basin), ocean and inland, European continent and Iberian Peninsula. Its culture and music has thus been exposed to a wide number of influences throughout history, ranging from British and northern European to Mediterranean to Arabic. For example, traditional overseas commerce with England, or international pilgrimage on the Way of St James added greatly to leave an imprint in both instruments and tunes.

Instruments

Folk instruments widespread in Europe ceased to be used in some places at some point of history and only remained in specific areas, where they took hold and adopted features and a character associated with the region, e.g. the three-hole pipe or tabor pipe in widespread use in Europe ultimately resulted in two specific instruments in the Basque Country: the txistu and the xirula. Accordingly, different instruments may have evolved out of one, such as Navarrese dulzaina and Souletin ''txanbela'', with slight differences between them.

Most instruments adopted in rural and folk circles do not go back more than six centuries, with some having been introduced as late as the 19th century, such as the trikitixa, or the txistu, shaped in its present-day form during that period, despite the fact that it resulted from a long evolution. Most Basque instruments originated outside the Basque Country and became popular in the territory at some stage, but the txalaparta is not one of them.

Some traditional Basque instruments are the following:
*Alboka, a difficult double clarinet played in a circular breathing technique similar to that used for the Sardinian launeddas.
* Txalaparta, a wooden xylophone-like percussion instrument for two players.
* Kirikoketa, a wooden percussion device akin to the txalaparta associated with the cider making process.
* Toberak, a percussion instrument made of horizontal metal bars.
* Txistu, a local pipe.
*Drum, called ''danbolin'', and usually accompanying the txistu.
* Atabal, a double sided, portable flat drum played together with aerophones.
* Xirula, a three-hole flute, shorter and more high-pitched than txistu.
*Ttun-ttun, a vertical stringed drum played usually together with the xirula.
* Trikitixa or ''eskusoinua'', a lively diatonic button accordion.
*Tambourine, usually played together with the trikitixa.
* Dulzaina, a Navarre-based pipe belonging to the shawm family.
* Blowing horn, an instrument made of ox horn.

Singing tradition

A collective soul

The Basque people are especially given to singing. Basque language has stuck to the oral tradition stronger than Romance languages, and its literature was first recorded in writing in the 16th century. There are ballads dating from the 15th century that have been passed from parents to children by word of mouth, e.g. ''Ozaze Jaurgainian'' from Soule, which relates events six centuries ago and has come down to us in different versions (the best known was popularized by Benito Lertxundi), or ''Alostorrea'', from Biscay. These ballads were crafted and spread by minstrels or bertsolaris, were kept in popular memory, and were transmitted in the so-called ''kopla zaharrak'', sets of poems with a characteristic rhythmic pattern that could be sung: this is similar to traditional practices elsewhere in Europe. So, for example, the first work of literature in Basque ''Linguæ Vasconum Primitiæ'' (1545) by Bernard Etxepare shows long verses that, while deceptively fashioned in metres resembling those used in Romance poetry, follow an internal rhythmic pattern similar to a ''kopla'', so they can be popularly sung. Even today, it is not unusual to see groups of people marching around a town at some local festival singing and asking the neighbours for a food, drink or money donation, while the most famous celebrations following this pattern across the whole Basque Country may be those taking place on Christmas Eve ( Olentzero) and the Saint Agatha's Eve, with singers dressing up in traditional costumes.

It follows that traditional singing is closely related to bertsolaris, improvising bards, who even nowadays hold an important status in Basque culture. They voice the people's concerns by means of a formal tradition coming from the people (tunes, linguistic devices), and act as their spokespersons. A considerable corpus of traditional songs was gathered by Resurrección María de Azkue and Aita Donostia, two religious scholars interested in Basque folk culture, at the turn of the 20th century; and also later on, in ''Cancionero popular vasco'' (1918) and ''Euskal Eres-Sorta. Cancionero Vasco'' (1922), to mention but a few works.

In the present day, the band Hiru Truku (comprising the celebrated musicians Joseba Tapia, Ruper Ordorika and Bixente Martinez) has chosen several ancient songs from all over the Basque Country, updated the music brilliantly and released them in a number of albums. Another current long-standing and renowned group who elaborate on traditional songs is Oskorri: The band set about singing traditional songs in public performances previously handing out to the audience a repertoire bill including the lyrics and encouraging them to sing along. The band has launched a couple of albums of this kind so far and performed on various tours to public acclaim, becoming especially popular with middle-aged parents.

A key figure bridging the old singing tradition of Soule and the folk song revival of the 20th century is Pierre Bordazaharre (1907–1979), aka Etxahun Iruri. A xirula player and singer, he collected old songs and fashioned new ones, which eventually caught on and spread, take for instance, ''Agur Xiberoa''. He also contributed to new pastoral plays in the tradition of Soule, reshaping the pastoral and adding new topics.

There is also a tradition of choral music all over the Basque Country. Church choirs were set up in some towns to meet the religious musical needs. Yet at the turn of the 20th century some ensembles became established outside the ecclesiastical context, e.g. the Sociedad Coral de Bilbao (founded in 1886), Orfeón Donostiarra (founded in 1897) or the Coral Santa Cecilia from Donostia (founded in 1928). Later on, other ensembles were formed, such as Oldarra Abesbatza from Biarritz (founded in 1947), made up of men and sometimes putting on performances as an ''ochote'' (see below), or the reputed Coral Andra Mari from Errenteria, established in 1966, featuring Basque folk music and Aita Donostia's several scores. Nowadays many minor choral ensembles, largely offering the Basque folk repertoire, dot the Basque territory. In Bayonne and Donostia a cheerful informal initiative has grown popular with amateurs in the late noughties, who meet once a month and go bar hopping around the streets of the respective Old Quarters while singing traditional songs.

Another Basque choral phenomenon is represented by the so-called ''ochotes'', which became popular in the 1930s in the Bilbao region: Eight men with deep voices, with a marked taste for local and folk subjects, singing in Spanish and Basque. This may stem from summer ecclesiastic seminaries and they thrived on the warm atmosphere of the bars after the work shift was over. Eventually a branch of this genre evolved out into ''bilbainadas'' (up to the 1960s, nowadays much in decay).

Classical soloists

Awash in the same singing tradition, but shifting towards the refined European trends prevailing in the higher levels of society, certain Basques became renowned as individual singers. Some soloists worth highlighting include:
*Pierre-Jean Garat (1764-1823): An early soloist thriving on the heat of Labourd's Enlightenment.
*Julián Gayarre (1844-1890): A Navarrese tenor from Roncal with an outstanding tenor voice.

Composers

The Basque Country has been home to various notable composers, writing mainly in the 20th century. Much in step with the artistic trends of the first half of the century (painting,...), some of them developed a liking for Basque customs, manners and subjects.
* Juan de Anchieta (1462–1523): Composer of the Renaissance hailing from the area of Azpeitia.
* Santiago de Herdoiza (Durango, c. 1700)
* Juan Crisostomo Arriaga (Bilbao, 1806 – Paris, 1826)
* Jose Maria Usandizaga ( Donostia/San Sebastian, 1887–1915): He is considered along with J. Guridi the father of Basque opera. He drew up orchestral and chamber pieces, like the celebrated ''Cuarteto de cuerda en Sol, Op. 31'', shifting to elaborate zarzuela as well as opera works at the end of his life (''Mendi-Mendiyan'', 1910: ''Las Golondrinas'', 1914). He had his increasingly successful career cut short by an early death.
* Jesús Guridi (Vitoria-Gasteiz, 1881 – Madrid, 1961): Himself a friend of Usandizaga, whom he met in Paris while attending the Schola Cantorum, he was appointed manager of Bilbao's ''Sociedad Coral'' choir in 1912. Influenced by Wagner and musicians of the Late Romanticism, he found inspiration and phrases for his compositions in Basque folklore. His rich musical education enabled him to deal with different types of music, e.g. zarzuela, opera, compositions for choir as well as religious pieces for organ. Some acclaimed works include ''El caserío'' (1926), ''Diez melodías vascas'' (1940), ''La meiga'' (1929), ''Seis canciones castellanas'' (1939) and ''Sinfonía pirenaica'' (1945).
* Nemesio Otaño ( Azkoitia, 1880 – San Sebastian, 1956 ): Composer, organist and musicologist. One of the most important figures in 20th century Spanish music history. Director of the Royal Conservatory of Madrid between 1939 and 1956. Among his most known works is ' Saint Ignatius March' ('Marcha de San Ignacio'), the patron saint of Biscay and Gipuzkoa. In 1894, he studied in the ''Colegio Preceptoría'' of Baliarrain, in which he composed two of his first litanies and a '' zortziko'' for piano; he was then only fourteen years old, but already played the organ in the school parish. In 1896 he joined the Society of Jesus and began his ecclesiastical studies along with the music classes. In 1911, he founded the Schola Cantorum at Comillas: His performances in plainsong and polyphony were highly influential. His works range from popular sacred songs (e.g. Estrella hermosa, Anima Christi, Baldako) to large-scale choral pieces.
* Pablo Sorozábal ( Donostia/San Sebastian, 1897 – Madrid, 1988)
* Maurice Ravel (Ziburu

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