Basque Spontaneous Poetry

This note appeared today at EITb:

Fiestas & traditions

Rooted in tradition

Bertsolaritza: Basque Country's "spontaneous poetry"

10/14/2007

Someone gives the bertsolari a topic and tells him/her which kind of verse to use. The bertsolari then creates some verses at that very moment.

Bertsolaritza (the art of the bertsolari) is a form of "poetry" that is spontaneously created from a given topic. These topics can be on anything from social problems to love.

There are many different forms of verse that are used by the Bertsolari with the most common ones being Zortziko nagusia and Zortziko txikia. Zortziko nagusia consists of alternating lines of 10 and 8 sylables. The rhyme is carried on the lines which contain 8 sylables. Zortziko txikia consists of alternating lines of 7 and 6 sylables. The rhyme for this form is carried on the 6 sylable lines.

Someone called a theme presenter gives the Bertsolari a topic such as "you have been out all night with your friends at the bar and driving home a policeman pulls you over. You must convince the policeman that although you've been drinking, you are in perfect shape to drive". The bertsolari is then told that he or she must use zotziko txikia as the meter and which tune he or she should sing his or her verse in.

Many Basque traditional songs are actually old verses made up by bertsolaris and then written down or passed orally from generation to generation. One such song is a very popular children's song in Zortziko txikia:

Maritxu Nora Zoaz Maritxu nora zoaz 7
eder galant hori 6
iturrira Bartolo 7
nahi badezu etorri 6
iturrian zer dago 7
ardotxo txuria 6
biok edango degu 7
nahi dezun guztia 6

Rap

There is quite a similarity between this art form and rap especially if you look at the rap music that is spontaneously created between individuals and not the prewritten-recorded variety that is being exported. In this rap form there is also a great variety of topics ranging from friendship to love to funny experiences.

Article published by Blas Uberaga

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