Once or twice a year the Autonomous
Basque Government of Euskadi sponsors a cultural tour to provide our
communities an opportunity to experience some of the latest work of
Basque entertainers. In Dec. 2007 the Basque txalaparta
and duo of Iñaki Plaza & Ion Garmendia gave us quite a show.
Related links:
Txalaparta
Ion & Inaki video clip
Txalaparta audio clip
Wikipedia article
Basque-Americans & our non-Basque
friends from coast-to-coast had an opportunity to take in the
music of the Basque txalapartak as played by some of the best
around! Thanks to funding from the Basque Government, and the
elkarlan ("working together") of several Basque communities Iñaki Plaza and
Ion Garmendia presented a multi-faceted show of Basque musical
instruments. Between them they played the txalaparta, trikitixa,
tambourine, txistu, alboka and king size PVC pipe (yes that's right).
They put on quite a show!
Unfortunately, their tour was cut
in half because of illness so they were only able to perform in Boise,
Chino and Washington D.C.
But to keep things flying, we
need the support and assistance of others--volunteers from Basque
communities that join the ELKARLAN ("Working together"). The
aim is to move these groups around to allow people the chance to
experience something new in the world of Basque music. Ion & Inaki
took a traditional foundation of musical instruments and then developed
some new directions.
The txalaparta is played by two musicians.
Each player holds a striker in either hand in the upright
position and uses them to strike different parts of the board
(placed horizontally and insulated so as not to lose resonance).
The music is created by both players working in unison.
Depending on the town or region, each of the has a special name:
"ttakuna" or "tukutuna" for one of the musicians, and "herrena"
or "urguna" for the other). Learn more about
Txalaparta history
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A
word of gratitude. Back in September Elena Sommer (Vancouver) and
Toni Sabarots (Seattle) helped to put together a successful cultural
tour for
Juan Beltran & his band.
Then Philippe Acheritogaray (San Francisco) got to work arranging
another successful cultural tour for
Anne Etchegoyen.
This time around Dr. Gloria Totoricaguena (Reno) has stepped up
to help arrange this tour. Without people like this things never
get off the ground. |
This duo went beyond just the
txalaparta (which they played incredibly well--see their video clip at
Ion & Inaki: txalaparta).
They added quite a few extra features to their well-rounded performance.
Ion (on the left) began his musical career with txistu and then went on
to learn more instruments. Here Ion is playing the panderoa
(tambourine) while Inaki playes the trikitixa. Inaki was
largely self-taught on the trikitixa and his unique compositions are
quite good. You can hear an excerpts from their soon to be released
disc by clicking on:
Sample 1
Sample 2
Iñaki Plaza Murga
(Bilbao,
Bizkaia, 1976) began studying trikitixa (Basque diatonic accordion) and
traditional Basque percussion (txalaparta, pandero) in 1993. Later he
began studying ethnic percussion (cajón, bodhrán, d´rbuka) and after
that, the hindú slat with Sergey Sapricheff. At present he is a member of the group “Kepa Junkera”,
in addition to “Ibon Koteron” and “Etxak” (a txalaparta troupe in
Euskadi) as a txalapartari, percussionist and trikitilari. He has also
teamed with Ion Garmendia on their current project titled “O+Hatz” (hogeihatz
or "twenty fingers").
Ion Garmendia Anfurrutia
(Ibarra, Gipuzkoa, 1979) began voice lessons and studying txistu in 1988
in Ibarra. In 1997 began teacher training program in Gasteiz, and in
1999 began learning alboka. Here his studies of alboka and gaita navarra were
intensified with Ibon Koteron, he also studied txalaparta y pandero with
Iñaki Plaza. From 2004 he is a part of Kepa Junkera’s group as a txalapartari,
txistulari, albokari y percussionist.
No doubt that they are both
accomplished musicians, and they put on a fine performance. An added bonus in all of
this, however, is that we meet two nice guys. They were a pleasure to host.
Hopefully we'll have them back amongst us again.
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These cultural tours are made possible by the financial
assistance of the Basque Government, and the various host
communities. The aim is make available some newer Basque
cultural exhibitions. |
LINK
You
can visit their blog at
www.inakiplazaiongarmendia.blogspot.com. The
email address is:
inakiplazaiongarmendia@gmail.com
