Al Erquiaga

This note was published at EiTB:

Al Erquiaga, a Basque dreamer and doer

Igor Lansorena

Al Erquiaga, born in Boise of Basque heritage, is one of the founders of Boise's successful Basque festival Jaialdi as well as one of the first Oinkari dancers.

Boise, capital city of the state of Idaho, does not have the largest Basque population outside the Basque Country. However, this remote city is home to the most active Basque community of the Diaspora.

Downtown Boise features a vibrant section known as the "Basque block" that includes the Basque Center Euzkaldunak, the Basque Museum and Cultural Center, the Gernika bar, the Leku Ona restaurant and hotel and the fronton. We should also not forget the Oinkari Basque dancers, Boiseko Gazteak, the Basque choir, Boiseko Ikastola or the band 'Amuma Says No'.

As Boisean researcher Gloria Totorikagüena describes in her book Boise Basques, the Basque community is full of "dreamers and doers", men and women who at some point decided to build a small Basque Country in this little-known place. Al Erquiaga, born in Boise, is one of those dreamers and doers who helped to lay the foundations of today's successful Basque community.

Born in Boise, Al's father came to the United States from the Bizkaian village of Ispaster in 1920. Like many other Basques, he had a relative who had already migrated to the United States - an older brother was here - and he knew he had no future in the Basque Country as his eldest brother was going to inherit the family farmhouse.

"It was hard work, but he never complained about it. He came in 1920 the first time and married my mother in 1934. I was born in 1935. And he herded sheep until after I was born, even after they were married for a year", Al says in an exclusive interview for eitb.com in Boise. "It was hard work and he realized it was no work for a family, of course, so then he went into farming", Al adds.

Raised on a farm, Al was brought up among Basque farmers and stories of the Basque Country. "We had a lot of Basque friends, other farmers, and when they were over to visit, it would be late in the evening, I would sit and listen to them talk. I liked to hear them tell their stories, about here or back home, I really enjoyed the stories", Al remembers.

Cultural phenomenon

In 1960, Al, and another seven Boise Basques, toured Europe for three weeks and then stayed in the Basque Country for almost two months. There, they met the Oinkari dancers from Donostia-San Sebastian. "We became very good friends with them. We went to their rehearsals, they taught us dances and (we) went touring with them in France," Al says.

"The best thing you can do is to go back to America and start a dance group called Oinkaris", the Basque dancers told Al and his seven friends. "On the way home we talked on the airplane about doing it, we got back home and said, let's do it," Al says.

And that is how the Oinkari Basque dancers from Boise were born. Nearly half a century later, they are part of Basque-American heritage and more than 800 people have performed not only in Boise or Idaho but also in many places all over the United States and the Basque Country.

Holiday Basque Festival

Nobody thought that the Oinkaris would grow to become the cultural phenomenon they are now. Neither did they when they started NABO, a federation of North American Basque Organizations that sustain Basque culture.

In the early 1970s, Al was member of the board of an organization called the Basque Studies Center, which organized a Holyday Basque festival thanks to a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Al, who was among the organizers of the festival, realized he was having a hard time contacting other Basque clubs in the United States.

"The problem that we run into was that we wanted everybody in the United States to know about it but we did not know anyone's names or contacts. The hardest part is we couldn't get hold of anybody, there was no communication. We need an organization, some ways to communicate," Al recounts.

"We met in Reno. We contacted three clubs of Reno, San Francisco, Bakersfield, seven or eight clubs. We got together, and that is how NABO was started," Al adds.

Jaialdi

Jaialdi, the international Basque festival held in Boise every five years, was also born out of the dreams of Al Erquiaga. Having met Jokin Intxausti from the Basque Government at a NABO meeting in 1985, they came up with the possibility of producing an international festival to promote Basque culture. Two years later it was a reality.

More than 500 volunteers worked on the first Jaialdi. Significant numbers of members from the Basque Diaspora attended and the festival was a great success. Since then, the Jaialdi is held every five years and thousands of Basques and non-Basques meet in Boise in this celebration of Basque culture, probably a source of inspiration for many other dreamers and doers just like Al Erquiaga.

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To Be Basque-American

US citizens love to hyphenate what they think is their nationality but what is actually how millions of individuals born in the continent that goes for Canada to Argentina are called. They hyphenate in an strange effort for you to be a "red, white and blue American" without giving up your background. They love a good story containing all the elements of Americana, like a woman sacrificing her own education in behalf of her relatives, a war veteran and boy scouts. And then there is the issue about the last names and how you have to do whatever you can to show the family link due to the fact that women give up their family last name when they marry (what is called "maiden name").

So here you have it via Idaho Mountain Express, the perfect Basque-American family history:

Florentina Teresa Sabala Laragan

Florentina Teresa Sabala Laragan joined many family members and friends in heaven on Sunday, March 9, 2008, in Twin Falls. Flora died at home as she had hoped, with her loving husband by her side, holding her hand and kissing her good-bye.

She was born in Twin Falls on Oct. 31, 1919, to Francisco and Florentina Yrazabal. She spent her youth in Twin Falls and attended St. Edward's Catholic School. As the third oldest of eight children, she mothered her younger siblings and sacrificed her high school education to work and take care of them. She made sure they would have the prom dresses or suits she never had the chance to wear herself. She always put others before herself. She worked for a couple of dry cleaners in Twin Falls and then for Sabala Cleaners in Ketchum before she was married.

Flora, a beautiful, vibrant Basque woman, married the handsome Lt. Col. Joe E. Laragan, who returned from World War II and swept her off her feet. They flew (just to be adventurous) to Elko, Nev., and were married Aug. 10, 1946. As the plane dipped and swerved, Dad told Mom, "Look what I got us into." Mom replied that she would go to the ends of the earth with him and that if the plane went down, they'd go together. Their marriage was later sanctioned by the Catholic Church. Flora and Joe made their home in Ketchum for 32 years. Flora was Joe's secretary for his oil business. While raising their children in Ketchum, Flora was involved with the Papoose Club, the Gold Mine, the Community Library and Cub Scouts, and was room mother for all three children at Ketchum Elementary School. She was actively involved in Our Lady of the Snows Catholic Church and taught Catechism.

Mom's best friends were her siblings and in-laws. She lived for and could hardly wait for the many reunions, get-togethers and adventures they all enjoyed throughout the years. In 1978, Flora and Joe retired to Twin Falls where they traveled to Spain several times with Flora's sisters and brothers and spouses, and to Arizona and California during the winter months. They attended every Jaialdi Basque Festival since its inception. Flora was a parishioner at St. Edward's Catholic Church. Her faith in God and gratefulness to God and her love of the rosary were demonstrated on a daily basis.

The most important part of her life was her family, which included immediate family, her siblings, their spouses and her nieces and nephews. Having lost her parents early in life, she cherished her husband's parents as her own and kept her Basque sharp when communicating with them. Flora had a wonderful sense of humor, was an excellent cook and the ultimate homemaker and mother. Her nieces and nephews and children's friends always knew they were welcome in her home and could always feel her unconditional love for them. Flora could turn any object or piece of clothing into a prop to make everyone laugh. She excelled at bringing a smile or laugh from those she loved, even at her own expense. She loved reading books and solving crossword puzzles, and was proud of the fact that she always won the spelling bees in grade school. She golfed and loved garage sales and movies. Mom and Dad were married for 62 years and through the ups and downs they never failed to dance.

Flora is survived by her beloved husband, Joe, and her children, Kathy (Durg) Perron, Kim Laragan-Uranga and Joe (Tammy) Laragan. Eight grandchildren survive her: Nikki (Greg) Maynard, Ryan (Sahily) Perron, Josh (Sheena) Perron, Jake (Kris Sang) Perron and Joel Perron, Sebi and Solee Uranga and Chelsea Laragan (Mike Byron). She is survived by nine great grandchildren: Lindsay, Gregory and Joshua Maynard, Ryan, Riley, Sahily and Kameron Perron, Tyson Laragan and Maria Byron. She is also survived by two sisters, Anna Berriochoa and Nettie Nance, one brother, Manuel Sabala, three sisters-in-law, Alice Sabala, Carmen Wallace and Bert Laragan, and one brother-in-law, Gene Hillis.

She was preceded in death by her parents, an infant sibling, her brothers Frank and John, her sisters Mary and Rosie; six brothers-in-law, John LePore, Carli Berriochoa, Joe Mendiola, Albert Nance, Marcey Laragan and Francis Wallace; four sisters-in-law; Lou Sabala, Grace Sabala, Juanita Laragan and Rita Hillis; a grandson, Gabe Perron; a great-grandson, Nathaniel Maynard; and two nephews, Garry Sabala and Jackie LePore. There is one heckuva "Farkle" Family Reunion and lots of jota dancing going on in Heaven.

We would like to express our appreciation to Dr. David Spritzer, Mia and Carol, and Dr. Stan Mogelson for being so good and kind to Mom and our thanks to Shanny Gallegos of Helping Hands and to Sylvia Wybenga for their kindness and help.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to St. Edwards Building Fund in honor of Francisco and Florentina Sabala, the Gooding or Boise Basque Center, ALS Research or to a charity of your choice.

The rosary will be recited on Tuesday, March 18, at 7 p.m. at Reynolds Funeral Chapel, 2466 Addison Ave. E., Twin Falls with Deacon Jim Herrett reciting. The Funeral Mass will be celebrated on Wednesday, March 18, at 11 a.m. at St. Edward the Confessor Catholic Church, 161 6th Ave. E., Twin Falls with Father Victor Manuel celebrating. Funeral arrangements are under the direction of the Reynolds Funeral Chapel, Twin Falls.

You will live on in our hearts. "Goian Bego" ... be with God and your family at peace now.

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Jon Gets Published

I just got this via email from my friend Jon whom I met during the Jaialdi in Boise earlier this year:

I wanted to let you know about something exciting that's happened. I've had a series of pictures from the Jaialdi Basque Festival (in Boise this Summer) published in a French Magazine called "Pays Basque". All of the photos (except 1) are mine and I got a nice 4-page spread & photo credit. I luckily was traveling in Europe for work and able to get a copy. I hadn't previously heard if they were accepted, so I was quite excited to see they made it in!

I've attached some photos of the pages (as I'm on the road & don't have a scanner).

If you haven't seen the full album, it's here.

Some other exciting things are in the works for these photos, I'll keep you posted when they happen.

(Thanks for letting me self-promote)

Take care,

Jon

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