To understand Basque music, it's important to first understand the Basque people and their divided homeland. The Basque country straddles the border between France and Spain, and contains the rural mountain villages of the Pyrenees, and the industrialized cities and fishing towns of the Bay of Biscay. While the Basque regions of both Spain and France enjoy semiautonomous status within both countries, many Basques, see themselves as a separate state (called Euskadi in the Basque language), and have been seeking independence for centuries, The constant state of tension between independence and incorporation has led to a fierce cultural nationalism among the Basques and the proud preservation of their customs and language, Euskara, which is seemingly unrelated to any other in Europe.
In the late 19th century, an upswell of Basque cultural pride led to the formation of large choirs, which sang traditional song forms and melodies in the Basque language. At the same time, the unique rural music and instruments of the region were also being documented and preserved: from the iconic txalaparta—a kind of hammered wooden plank—to the alboka (a goat's horn "clarinet"). These traditions were resilient enough to resist decades of repression at the hands of the Spanish State. In 1952, at the height of the Franco regime's attempt to extinguish Basque language and culture, American musicologist Alan Lomax travelled to the Basque regions of Spain to make field recordings and found many of these ancient traditions largely intact.
Today, the best-known Basque musical tradition is the accordion style called trikitrixa. Adapted from old pipe music, it's intricate and heady, often fast-paced. Highly ornamented and favoring radily fingered triplets, it can be quite dizzying to hear. Originally music made for country dances, a couple of generations of accordion players have modernized it. Joseba Tapia, for example, is considered the dean of the tradition, working with pandereta, or tambourine (which in the hands of Xavier Letueria becomes an instrument of infinite possibilities). Originally taught by his uncle, Tapia remains strongly connected to his roots. When playing solo his music is very traditional. With a full band, however, he brings other influences to bear, drawing on Arab music and even rock, pop, and hip-hop, working everything together quite seamlessly. Possibly better known internationally is another diatonic accordion player, Kepa Junkera, who's enjoyed an adventurous career, making a splash with his 1998 double CD, Bilbao 00:00 hrs. It was adventurous and sprawling, helping to establish Basque music on the world map by collaborations with musicians from many other cultures, ranging as far a field as Sweden, Madagascar and Ireland.
In terms of bands, Oskorri (with whom Junkera apprenticed as a teenage prodigy) are the best-established, founded in the early 1970s. Essentially a folk-rock band, they play a lot of traditional material, along with their political originals, mixing modern instrumentation with accordion, the piercing Basque alboka (made from a pair of rams' horns) and bagpipes. Their longevity and commitment has given them an almost iconic status in Euskadi. Formed during the Franco years, they held the Basque flag high during the years of repression, and in the time since they've remained a constant musical force.
While tradition has been important for most musicians, some have very definitely embraced the new. Fermin Muguruza, for example, works with loops, samples and beats, as well as traditional instruments, to create politically-charged, cutting-edge music. Working solo and in several other aggregations over the course of more than two decades, always singing or rapping in Euskara, the Basque language, he's embraced punk and electronica in his music. An avowed separatist, he's supposedly now left music to concentrate on his political activities. Yet his large body of work—akin to that of his friend, Manu Chao—hasn't lost any of its punch, and remains` part of the forward guard of Basque music, visceral and energetic.
French Basque music, on the other hand, has yet to bring little creativity to the table, with only singer Benat Achiary a visible figure on the scene.
It may not be music, but there's one other large strand to the Basque tradition, that of the rural poet. However, it's not written poetry; this is very much an oral tradition, with the emphasis on poems improvised and created in the moment. The bersolari, as they're known, have now become more urban, and it's a testament to the pride the Basques take in their culture that many of the younger poets are now featured on television and radio. Indeed, poet Bernardo Atxaga has won a prestigious Spanish prize, and had his words set to music by singer-songwriter Ruper Ordorika. Chris Nickson .
