Eusko Flickr : Untitled

Originally uploaded by CAZASCO

Basque Orchestra in Scotland

Well, seems like this summer Scotland will be under the spell of the Basque culture. We just mentioned an article about a Basque delegation to the Inverness Highland Games and now thanks to EiTB we learn about the Basque Youth Orchestra being invited to perform in Aberdeen:

Basque Youth Orchestra to perform in Scotland

E. S.

The Basque Youth Orchestra is starting the summer season on July 26 in its homeland. After performing in the three Basque capitals, its members will be touring around Scotland.

The Basque Youth Orchestra (EGO in their initials in Basque) is starting its summer season on July 26 at the Principal Theatre in Vitoria-Gasteiz. After performing in the three Basque capitals (Bilbao -July 27, Euskalduna Palace-, Donostia-San Sebastian -July 29, Kursaal-) and at the Urko Sports Centre of Sopelana on July 28, its members will be touring around Scotland.

The orchestra is taking part at the Aberdeen International Festival in Scotland, an event aimed to support the young in the world of arts, as the EGO said in a statement. Over 30,000 people are expected to visit a ten-day long festival which counts on more than 70 events scheduled.

From August 1 to 5, the young orchestra will be performing in venues such as 'His Majesty's Theatre in Aberdeen or at the 'Perth Concert Hall' in the Scottish town of the same name. The EGO will be accompanied by other European bands like the Northhollands Youth Orchestra, the Iceland Youth Orchestra, the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland or the Inverness Youth Orchestra.

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Basque Delegation at Inverness Games

This article was published at The Press and Journal:

Games to have international appeal

Record number of overseas competitors visiting Inverness for Masters World Championships

Jane Candlish

This year’s Inverness Highland Games will have an international feel, organisers said yesterday.

A record number of foreign competitors – more than 80 from 10 countries – will take part in the Masters World Championships, including the first participants from Japan and France.

And there will be a Basque feel to the whole afternoon as the Nazioen Mundua Display Team demonstrate their traditional games.

The Pyrenees group will take part in wood-chopping, stone-lifting, anvil-lifting, bale-lifting, tug o’ war and sawing.

The group made their debut in Inverness last year, with a display in Falcon Square.

The 65-strong Nazioen Mundua Party will also include traditional Basque dancers, singers and musicians and a team of Basque Yoaldunak marchers.

Yoalduna means “he who has the bells" and each marcher has two giant metal bells attached to their sheepskin jacket and the sound of ringing can be heard from some distance away.

The event, which is part of the Inverness Summer Festival, will start at the Bught Park at 11.30am on Saturday, with the shinty World Cup final between Fort William and Portree.

Heavy events will start at 1pm each day.

A spectacular opening ceremony will see the first appearance of the new official Inverness Highland Games tartan.

Inverness Provost Jimmy Gray will be the first wearer of the specially designed tartan.

The Inverness Highland Games will be the largest gathering yet staged in the Highland Capital since the event was revived in 1822.

More than 10,000 spectators are expected to attend the event, which will feature more than 600 competitors and performers.

In the last few years Scotland has joined Nabarra in the front line of the demand for self determination of the European nations trapped by the outdated but generalized conception of state. This is why we think it is positive that both nations send their own delegations so we can weave a tight net of solidarity so our voice is heard loud and clear in the European and international institutions.

For more information about the Inverness Highland Games visit their page.

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Integrating Through Own Identity

Here you have a note published at Basqueresearch:

Basqueness is an element of social integration for the Basque communities in the United States

A PhD thesis undertaken at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) involved the ethnographic study of young dancers belonging to the Zazpiak Bat Basque Club based at Reno (Nevada, USA). Using this case, how the dances and activities of the Basque communities intervene in the process of multicultural socialization in the United States, was studied.

The PhD thesis aimed to show the subjectivity of persons making up the Basque community in the United States, to which end a study was undertaken of how the dances and activities of these Basque communities in that country intervene in the process of multicultural socialization in that North American country.

The author of the thesis is Ms Clara Urdangarin Liebaert and has entitled her work Dancing the Jauzi under the stars and stripes: an ethnographic study of the Zazpiak Bat Group of Dancers from Reno, Nevada. In order to carry out this research she stayed at Reno from February 2003 to January 2004.

Through the rehearsals and performances and so on of the Basque folk dantzaris from Reno, the researcher was able to see how a code of communication adjusted to the social context in the United States was internalized. Thus, Basqueness is an element of social integration in this multicultural society.

Internal and external logic

The author analyzed the relationship between the internal logic of the Basque dances and the external logic of the dancer. Each one of these logics is divided into four sections, each as a function of the relation of the subject to space, to time, to the other actors and to objects.

The socialization of United States Basques as demonstrated in this work is within a social context characterized by a multiracial society which strives to marry the different origins of its inhabitants with the social cohesion of the country. To a certain extent, the features distinguishing Basques from other ethnic groups in the United States have the features of multiculturality: a United States citizen linked to an immigrant origin, identified with customs and a desire for brotherhood with other groups.

The results show the characteristics of the internal logic of Basque dancing and the social framework in which it happens. The Basque dance in the United States presents a citizen who associates with other Basque citizens to form a group and thus build their identity within the framework of North American minorities. In this way, the Basque fiestas construct a Basque who presents himself or herself to the multicultural community with pride. The Basques dance in order to exist in the multiethnic mosaic that is the United States.

Material culture

Material culture —culture associated with objects— shows a United States person who uses objects of consumption linked to his or her own identity. In the same way, Basque activities underpin their identity —peaked caps embroidered with brotherhood motifs, balloons and banners in white, red and green and car license plates with the inscription proud to be Basque—.

Also, the liking for uniforms is quite clear with the clothing of the dantzaris and other who actively participate in the fiesta. According to the researcher, these objects link the citizen to the group they belong to and, in this case, the Basque with his or her ethnic community.

Information about the author

Ms Clara Urdangarin Liebaert (London, 1960) is qualified as a psychiatric nurse and a graduate in Physical and Sports Education. She undertook her PhD thesis under the direction of Mr Joseba Etxebeste Otegi from the Department of Physical Education at the Faculty of Physical Sports Activities Sciences (UPV/EHU), and spent time at the Center of Basque Studies at the University of Reno (Nevada). She is currently working as a lecturer in the Department where she carried out her PhD.

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Eusko Flickr : Gazteluaren Ordez Eskola

Gazteluaren ordez Eskola
Originally uploaded by guitarrizer

Euskaltel Euskadi and The Pyrenees

The Daily Peloton page has published an article about how Euskaltel Euskadi fared at the Pyrenees this year, here you have it:

Three Days in the Pyrenees

Christopher Fauske

Euskaltel-Euskadi finally has something to shout about in its back yard.

Le Tour de France comes through every year, and every year—whether the cols are early or late in the race—there is talk of how this is the stamping ground of Euskaltel-Euskadi, of how hundreds of thousands decked out in bright orange, waving the flag of the Basque country, and getting in the faces of riders will astonish the millions watching on TV, many of them clueless about the root cause of the fervor.

And each year when it is over, commentators and cynics alike are left wondering why, how, once again, the team from the Basque country didn’t really figure in the races.

For the 2009 version of the race, the team talked down expectations before the start. Amets Txurruka had reflected that “personally, I would prefer for the Pyrenees to come towards the end, because when other people are fresh it’s more difficult for me to stand out. At any rate, these are special stages for us and we will try to put on a good show for our fans.”

The first week’s racing played out to include some utterly unexpected time losses for potential GC leaders and highlighted the apparent dominance of Astana, with only Columbia-HTC and Garmin-Slipstream at first offering a challenge. But there were also some individual stage wins that no one saw coming and races-within-races developed. Euskaltel-Euskadi, though, was suffering, most noticeably during the TTT through Barcelona when team captain Mikel Astarloza fell twice. He later expressed gratitude to the team for limiting his loss to mere “minutes.” Importantly, though, the team responded to Astarloza’s falls that day as a team, and it was that attitude that would influence its approach in the Pyrenees.

Day one in the Pyrenees (stage 7) saw Egoi Martinez join a nine-man breakaway that stayed away to the end, ultimately crossing the line alone in fifth place, 45 seconds back. The day’s outing eased him up to fourth place in the King of the Mountains competition. But no one seemed to notice particularly, and stage 8 saw the squad send Astarloza on to the attack from the start. While stage 7 was the only mountain-top finish in the Pyrenees, there were enough climbing challenges on stage 8 for the breakaway to be whittled down as the day wore on, and after the Col d'Agnes Astarloza was one of only four riders to settle into the task of staying away for the final 40KM. He was rewarded with a third place finish, gaining 1’ 54” on the race leaders.

Despite the third place finish, frustration showed in his remarks that “Honestly, I don’t know what else can we do to achieve a stage victory.” Still, he reflected, “I have taken some time [out of the GC leaders]. We went for the victory and those two minutes are a little reward for so much work."

Stage 9 revealed that Euskaltel-Euskadi was not just launching riders each day in hopes of a stage win in the local mountains, a strategy that would most likely have seen Igor Antón get the nod for the final stage. Instead, Martinez attacked once more, this time supported by Txurruka. On the Col d’Aspin, the two of them joined the remains of an earlier escape and by the Col du Tourmalet they had firmly established themselves. Martinez, who had quietly picked up 11 KOM points on stage 8, snagged 8 more points on the Col d’Aspin and 16 on Col du Tourmalet before re-joining the chasing peloton, mission accomplished, and ending the day in the Polka Dot Jersey.

It was, he said later, something of importance to the team, and to him personally: “ [After my fifth place one stage 7] I said we are a team that has trouble winning. Yesterday, Mikel Astarloza was very strong but could not finish his great work.”

“Last night the team agreed we had to do everything possible to win the Polka Dot jersey and that we had a lot of work to do.” This was the team’s focus, and “Amets Txurruka has done an incredible job,” Martinez offered.

Toward the end of the day, after the racing was over and the circus was preparing to move on, Martinez made his way to the team bus, where he was met by team president Miguel Madariaga, who embraced his rider while reportedly close to tears. “This is the first time in the history of our team we have this jersey that is so beloved by Basque fans," Madariaga told the media who remained.

DS Igor González de Galdeano then announced the team’s intentions: “We will see if we can keep it!" Which might just change the strategy for the Alps, but before next weekend come stages of various complexion, all with a few mountain points on offer here and there, and, as Thor Hushovd neatly demonstrated on stage eight, those small points can matter.

And as George Hincapie in turn showed, one way to protect a points jersey for a teammate, or, at least, to limit the damage, is to go out and grab them for yourself. It may be that prior to the Alps, Martinez is protected not just by his own accomplishments but by his teammates attacking to protect the points on offer. And all the while Astarloza will wait for the Alps, which, as he reminds people, “have treated me very well, and in the third week [of the Tour] endurance runners like me should benefit.”

For now, though, the image that is captured in Basque eyes is that of one of their own, Egoi Martinez, on the podium in red and white. It’s not bright orange, but no one minds.

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The Fascist Friendly Catholic Church

It is not enough, you could actually file this one under the "too little, too late" label, but at least it brings into the lime light one historic fact that is often denied by revisionist historians, the Catholic Church supported the fascist dictatorship of Francisco Franco, a murderous regime that lasted forty years. This note regarding the ceremony by the Basque Autonomous Community's bishops to ask for an apology for their silence regarding the execution of Basque priests by Francisco Franco's troops during the so called Spanish Civil War was published at The Telegraph:

Basque Bishops call for Catholic Church apology

Bishops in the Basque Country have urged the Roman Catholic Church to apologise for its silence over the killing of priests by General Francisco Franco's Right-wing forces during the Spanish Civil War.

Fiona Govan

Spain's Catholic Church supported Franco's uprising against the elected Left-wing Republican government. While the Church has always honoured the thousands of clergy who died at the hands of the Republicans, those who were killed by Franco have been officially ignored.

In an unprecedented step, a service was held in the cathedral of the Basque Country's capital, Vitoria, to remember 14 priests who were killed by Franco's forces during the 1936-39 war.

"The silence with which officials of our Church surrounded the deaths of these priests is not justifiable, nor acceptable for much longer," said Miguel Asurmendi, the Catholic bishop of Vitoria, during the ceremony.

"Such a long silence was not only a wrongful omission, but also a lack of truth and an act against justice and charity."

The Catholic Church has beatified hundreds of "martyrs" who were killed by the Republicans, who were explicitly anticlerical. Pope Benedict XVI staged the largest beatification ceremony ever in October 2007 when he honoured almost 500 Spanish priests, monks and nuns who died in this way.

There are plans for another such ceremony, sparking further criticism by Spaniards who feel the Church should atone for having supported Franco's regime, which lasted until the general's death in 1975.

Spain has made great strides in coming to terms with the trauma of its recent history. Two years ago, the socialist government of Jose Luis Rodriquez Zapatero passed the Historic Memory Law, which recognises Franco's victims.

Sadly, the author chooses to give Zapatero a free pass. Yes, a Historic Memory Law was passed under this government but it is actually a watered down version of the original. Zapatero made sure that this Law would represent no danger to the Spanish elites that today uphold Francisco Franco's principles, a Law that erects all kinds of roadblocks for the NGO's trying to literally unearth the truth of what happened. After all, Zapatero works directly for Juan Carlos Borbon, a "king" that was selected by Francisco Franco himself to perpetuate his regime.

No, regarding the Basque bishops act of contrition, it is not enough with asking for forgiveness. The damage caused must be repaired. The names of the priests that murdered Republicans must be provided, the Catholic Church archives have to be available for researchers and truth commissions, the continuous support of the Catholic Church towards fascist regimes must be denounced. Asking for forgiveness leads to nothing. What's so courageous about condemning yesterday's executions when today you join ranks with the direct descendants of those who ordered the executions?

Truth and justice, trial and punishment for those responsible. That's what they must demand, not just play it easy and resort to a deceitful request for forgiveness.

Asking for forgiveness does not right a wrong, only justice does. Not forgotten, not forgiven, a loud and clear no to reconciliation.

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Eusko Flickr : Herriko Taberna

Herriko Taberna
Originally uploaded by Soniko

Bilbao's Quarry

Every year around this time we are witness to the dance of the "billion euros legs". The football teams in Europe do everything and anything they can to secure the services of one of the top players in the different leagues across the continent. This year was exceptional, Spanish dictator Francisco Franco's team Real Madrid hired two of the top players in the world: Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaká. They want to be able to compete against the best team in Europe, Catalonya's pride Barcelona.

But there is one team in Europe that refuses to enter this maelstrom, Athletic de Bilbao... Nabarra's pride. Here you have this article featuring Athletic published at SoccerLens:

Athletic Bilbao and ‘Cantera’

Alasdair Sim

Chances are that if you’re in the pub with your friends and the inevitable topic of football is discussed, and perhaps less inevitably Spanish football is mentioned (unless it’s a dig at Real Madrid), then Athletic Club Bilbao will not be high on the list of subjects.

But perhaps it should be. Amongst the arguments of ‘who’s better Messi or Ronaldo’, ‘who will David Villa join’, and, ‘oh by the way who’s round is it’, Athletic Club barely get a look in. However in today’s ever declining lack of footballing morals, ethics and loyalty, Athletic Bilbao at least deserve a drunken supportive rant.

Formed by British migrant workers in 1898, Bilbao has become somewhat of a romanticised club. They are team whom are idealised in a modern world where cheap footballing imports and the EU have almost brought the great youth systems of Europe it their knees.

Gone are the days of the Lisbon Lions who won the 1967 European Cup with players who were all born within 30 miles of Glasgow. Look at every Premier League team in England, only an average of 3 English players per team start every weekend. And yet, in a small part of Northern Spain a team has consistently defied the globalization of football and strove to preserve its values and fundamental beliefs in an age where football is slowly falling into an abyss filled with greed, monetization and self-interest.

The sun quietly descends behind the Stadio San Mamés, or ‘The Cathedral’ if you’re a Los Leones, as it is still sometime before the hustle and bustle of the new La Liga season comes to these shores. When you think of all the great names that have graced this pitch: the prolific Telmo Zarra, José Ángel Iribar and Joseba Etxeberria to name just a few you begin to see the curiosity and interés that surrounds this club. They are all Basque. They all hail from the Basque region of Northern Spain. And what makes the club more intriguing is that since 1912, almost 100 years ago, the Athletic Bilbao team has only consisted on Basque players. Remarkable. Do you think you would ever see Arsene Wenger or Alex Ferguson only playing footballers born in London or Manchester?

This policy of Cantera (literally ‘quarry’) is one that the club, the supporters and the Basque people are immensely proud of. By implementing this policy the club is ensuring the survival and promotion of the Basque game, they choose to nature their own talent rather than buy an import. It is also more than this. It is a stand against centralization. A voice that yells “we are Basque!”. During the 28 year reign of General Franco the Basque people suffered terrible oppression; their unique language, culture, customs, style were all banned, persecuted and oppressed because they didn’t fit in with the ideal of a one-nation Spain. It was conform or suffer the consequences. Support for Bilbao was a vote against Franco. Much in the same way that Barcelona is self-described as ‘more than a club’, Athletic Bilbao are similar, but they take it a step further.

And yet, not everyone looks upon Athletic Bilbao as the ideal football club.. Admittedly these critics mainly come from outside the region but perhaps they do have a point when they say that Cantera is restrictive to Bilbao’s progress. While it has cemented its position in footballing history as a club that is genuinely local (if you overlook the fact that it was created by foreigners), it has also been somewhat left behind when it comes to success.

They haven’t won a domestic trophy since 1984 and since we have entered the 21st century their highest finish has been 5th. Not bad you might say considering they are up against the likes of Real, Barcelona and Valencia who can open their cheque books and sign anyone from any part of the world, but when you consider their success historically in that they have won 8 La Liga titles and sit 3rd behind Real Madrid and Barcelona in terms of league titles won; the policy of Cantera looks outdated and obsolete. A throwback to a distant age when football was idyllic and naïve.

And yet this isn’t the view of the club nor the fans. Their president, Fernando Garcia Macua, announced that “we’d rather go down than change our habits, I know the supporters feel the same.” They have only a 3 million strong population in which to find their next Telmo Zarra.

If the Arsenal Board decided that the club could only buy players that are part of, or have descended from, the 7.5m people that live in London there would be a revolt. But yet we look upon Bilbao as well, somehow right and honorable. Of course clubs should have a ‘local’ presence, of course they should protect and nurture their own; it’s a sorry state of affairs that most clubs have neither the will nor the courage to do so.

So next time you’ve have one too many Carlsbergs in the local and have moved on to why Messi is a hundred times better than Ronaldo, spare a thought for Bilbao. Because unless the Basque country has a sudden baby boom of superstars, Cantera might not be around for another 100 years.

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Running With the Hemingways

Sanfermines, the main festivity in the Basque country which takes place the second week of July in the capital city of Iruñea (known also as Pamplona) and the iconic US writer Ernest Hemingway will be forever some sort of symbiotic entities.

Regarding this connection between the Sanfermines and Hemingway we strongly recommend that you read the book "San Fermingway" by Mundaka's writer Edorta Jimenez, in the mean time we leave you with this article published at the Irish Times:

Hemingways give the bulls a good run for their money

John Fleming

PAMPLONA LETTER: Some bearded gents compete to get in character. Oh and the sun also rises

HERE THEY come running and snorting, muscular and well-fed, thundering through the cobbled streets of Pamplona. Most are sure-footed but others slump heavily against the cordoning walls of the Basque town. While some have bull necks, these guys also have beards and many have American accents.

Coiffured and growling in voices laced with cigar smoke, they came just in advance of the week-long San Fermin festival with its bull run taking place at 8am each day. They have a specific purpose apart from running with the bulls or observing them from safety. One and all, they are here in Pamplona for the first international Ernest Hemingway lookalike competition.

The manly gun-loving bull-idolatrist writer was part of a coterie of Americans whose reverse voyage of discovery to the old world led them to a rediscovery of Spain in the first half of the 20th century.

Holed up in the Navarra capital’s old city, Illinois-born Hemingway wrote the textbook on bull running and fighting. Revering it as a spectacle of blood and lust and soft machismo, he was a literary anthropologist firing a blunderbuss of adjectives into noble savages (bull and man), much in the way Robert Flaherty framed Irish islanders in Man of Aran in 1934.

But Hemingway was a participant observer, living among the peasants. He was drawn to visit Pamplona on nine occasions starting in 1923, staying for the most part in the Hotel Perla.

In the main square, Plaza del Castillo, under a long arcade, like many a writer the world over, he sat and drank and stared at the sinking sun. His novel The Sun Also Rises appeared in 1926, putting the town of Pamplona and its reverence of the bull on the international map.

In 1957, four years before he died, Hollywood made a film of the novel, shooting it on location in Pamplona with Errol Flynn and Ava Gardner and projecting the city firmly into the world’s consciousness. His favourite bar in the plaza now bears his name and is the focus of this impersonator competition held a half-century on from his last visit.

Hemingway liked to nurse a drink. It can seem difficult to find a bar in any touristy quarter anywhere that does not proclaim him as one of its more famous frequenters. The man’s fondness for spreading his custom is often mocked – be it by a bar on Plaza Santa Ana in Madrid that guarantees its clients they are in the one bar where Hemingway certainly did not drink. Or here in Pamplona, where a “Hemingway Pizza” joint waves a red flag to ardent literary pilgrims and cooks in soft mockery with its buffalo mozzarella.

Gangs of young Spaniards, Australians, Englanders and others flock in on buses in a parade of bravado, combining surfing holidays in San Sebastian and crossborder Biarittz with the running of the bulls. As they get set for an eight-day street orgy of wine-bathing and over-consumption of sangria, some portly gents arrive as leisurely guests of the government of Navarra’s office of culture and tourism.

While the energetic young ones don Daz-whiteness T-shirt and trouser outfits and tie red cravats around their necks and feel part of a history bigger and even crazier than their over-enthusiastic selves, the old chaps are thoughtfully decapitating decent cigars and getting ready to roll on down to the unlikely talent show.

All the finalists grind down through the streets to the central plaza. They are now fully in character, all beards and bellies, and must perform for a while as the celebrated writer.

They charge past tattooed young hedonists on Interrail passes just finished their first-year exams. They cut through stunning Spanish youths who know this fiesta of bulls mauls the internet back into its box.

They nod to similar-aged locals whose ardour for San Fermin never flags but whose intensity of celebration now finds form in the preparation and consumption of excellent cod stew.

The product of the best bovine breeding, some of the international Hemingway doubles are veterans of qualifying heats elsewhere.

But the only heat here is the 36 degrees bombarding these greying men.

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