Basques around the world

Hi Basques,

Some great stuff to check out today, starting off with all the news and latest videos from the all important Azkena Rock festival.

Check out gigs and interviews with Kitty Daisy and Lewis and The Hold Steady from Day One of the Festival, and see a summary of Thursday and a run down of Friday’s line-up, which includes legendary rockers Kiss.

UK newspaper The Guardian has published a video report on Basque Culture. Read about what they have to say and have your chance to see the report.
Have a great weekend,

Agur

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Hi Basques,

I’m delighted that group member “Barka tu” chose our group to tell everyone about the Annual Basque Picnic coming up on July 4^th organized by the Southern Californian Basque Club – thanks for that Barka!

And in case you didn’t catch it, group member Ronald Borunda wrote to say that he and his wife will be visiting Navarre this summer and wonders if anyone can give him any travel tips for where to go and what to visit.

This side of the Atlantic, the annual Azkena Rock Festival kicks off today. Eitb English will be bringing you news and videos of the event, but don’t forget you can also watch it live on the special eitb.com Azkena Rock website.

Elsewhere in the Basque Country, anyone interested in jazz music should read our item about the Getxo International Jazz Festival kicking off next Thursday. If you can’t make this one, there are three other such festivals going on around here throughout July.

The sun continues to shine here in Euskadi. Of course, Wednesday June 23^rd were the Saint John (San Juan) celebrations where many towns and villages all over the Basque Country lit fires to welcome in the summer, which certainly wasn’t absent this year. Enjoy some wonderful images of last night’s revelry.

By the way, if you’re hoping for a decent summer holiday but don’t want to spend too much, check out this really interesting report by eitb.com.  You may end up in a New York penthouse for next to nothing!

That’s all for today.

Agur!

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Kaixo Basques!

The 22nd edition of Getxo International Blues Festival kicks off on Friday, June 18th with the performance of the American blues-rock guitarist Eric Sardinas who will present his last work recorded together with his band Eric Sardinas & Big Motor. He will be accompanied by world famous Flamenco guitarist Raimundo Amador.

The 15/15 Film Festival provides an excellent creative opportunity for filmmakers to make a short film that is up to 15 minutes in length in 15 hours.

On Wednesday June 30th, the men and women of Bilbao will be canvassed to give their signatures to promote the city’s design sector. In line with the concept of Design, however, all signatures collected during the day will go towards a unique and innovative purpose.

New posts:

Dos paredes Basque Pelota blog: ‘Pelota on the Web, 19th-20th June: Manomanista Final’

Kepa Junkera’s blog In & Out: ‘Berriaren bizia’

Off the beaten track in the Basque Country: ‘Basque is sexy’

Learning Basque: ‘Ulertzen dut’

And please, don’t forget you can send us your photos of landscapes, skies and other images of nature that depict the state of the weather, and get to see them published on-line in Eguraldiblog.

Agur!

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Kaixo Basques all around the world!

How are you? How is the weekend going on?

When fire swept through the kitchen of Basque restaurant Mugaritz during the early hours of February 15th, causing devastating damage to the interior, the subsequent closure of Andoni Aduriz’s two Michelin starred eatery was a reason to be down. After four months of initial grief, Basque restaurant Mugaritz will open its doors on Tuesday, June 15th.

Manhattan Island Marathon Swim is a current-assisted 28.5-mile race around the island in New York that took place on June 12, 2010. The swimmer from the Basque town of Donostia-San Sebastian Jaime Caballero also took part in the event.

To finish with, check out  the latest posts left during the weekend on our blogs:

Discover the Basque Country blog: All set for the summer!

Off the beaten track in the Basque Country blog: Araba, the ignored province, for no reason at all…

Inside & Out: Kepa Junkera will be in charge of closing the Art Festival of Miajadas

Learning Basque: Bigarren astean

That’s all for today, see you tomorrow!

Agur

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Good afternoon to our 2,245 members-

The sun continues to shine here and we’re promised a fabulous weekend of beach weather and small waves for those budding surfers!

Because of a few technical hiccups yesterday we couldn’t tell you that the video of the Athletic Bilbao squad playing against 200 school children ended up receiving 30,000 hits on the net and was voted by digg users to go on its homepage. It was also posted by an Aussie Man Utd fan onto the UK team’s official forum.

Well, there’s more… because the 20,000 spectators, raised enough money to build a football school for children in the Congo. It was Etxebe’s decision to donate the money to the children, who have been in the hearts of all Athletic players and fans since a video was made of them singing the team anthem.

Anyway, read that story and see the video here.

Remember we told you about a new tour entitled Discover the Basque Country, created by historian Paddy Woodworth and gastronomy guru Jon Warren. Well there’s another great article, this time about Jon and his company San Sebastian Food, which provides a more original experience for tourists all centred around the Community’s great food.

And we have a brand new blog! Basque internationally-acclaimed musician and trikitixa maestro Kepa Junkera is currently on a tour of the States. From time to time he’ll be writing to us about his experiences and the people he meets on his travels. His first article is about Ramon Echeveste, born in Doneztebe, Navarre. He left the Basque Country at the age of 20 with nothing but the clothes on his back.  He is now the successful self-made owner of a sheep company.

Ondo ibili!

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Hello Basques,

Finally the sun is shining and it looks like spring is on its way.

If you live outside the Basque Country and are thinking of visiting soon, you might be interested to read about a new tour of cultural and culinary discovery. Set up by two non-natives, but confessed lovers of the Basque Country, the Discover the Basque Country tour promises a no-holds-barred insight into the more authentic side of Euskadi; this time, the lesser known San Fermines fiesta of the village of Lesaka.

Remember the news from a couple weeks back that Bilbao was to become the first ever Nobel prize-winning city? Today we can officially confirm that Bilbao City Council will receive the Lee Kuan Yew city prize for all its hard and conscientious work during the city’s post-industrial regeneration.

If you’re following the Manomanista, check out the latest post on our Dos Paredes, Basque Pelota Blog. Some interesting news about two of its main stars Barriola and Olaizola.

That’s all from us today.

Laister arte!

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Good day Basques!

The second and last day of Nonick Conference started with workshops and was followed by Andie Grace from ‘Burning Man’ and Zaryn Dentzel, creator of ‘Tuenti’.

Zaryn Dentzel is the creator of Tuenti, the most successful and important social network among young people all over Spain.

With 27 pro cent of the votes SubMate was the winner of Nonick’s Startup 2.0 Competition. Minube came second with 25 percent and the bronze medal was for Askaro with 23 percent of the votes. Stereomood and Good job got 10 and 13 percent respectively.

John Malkovich’s ‘The Infernal Comedy’ will be at Arriaga Theatre in the Basque town of Bilbao on Tuesday, May 18th.

To finish with, Basque Museum ARTIUM presents Txuspo Poyo’s UN(inverse). This work deals with the relationship between the setting up of the United Nations Organization during the period following the World War II.

This is all for today. See you tomorrow!

Agur!

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Dear Basques,

If you don’t have any plans for the weekend, you should visit Orduña and enjoy the Basque traditional fiesta ‘Ochomayos‘. This year, Mexican music and culture will be special guests of these fiestas.

European Film Week opens with Metropolis. The event commemorates ‘Europe Day‘ and will be presided over by Basque Premier Patxi Lopez and Minister of Science and Innovation Cristina Garmendia.

To finish with, the retail trade sector of the Basque Country registered a 5.3% rise in nominal sales in the first quarter of 2010 with regard to the same period of the previous year, according to Eustat data.

Enjoy Saturday and bihar arte!

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Hi there –

Loads of Blog news today Basques.

Firstly, we’ve got a brand new blog written by English San Sebastian based chef Jon Warren. Jon runs a company called San Sebastián Food, a world-class bespoke food and wine travel company. You might remember we told you about him teaming up with Paddy Woodworth, to offer small group visits around the whole Basque area. Jon’s blog – entitled Discover the Basque Country – will take you behind the scenes on a series of these tours.

Our other (Basque) food lover Tamar Marino’s latest post on our Basque Fed blog takes her into the heart of the Basque Country and its food as she tells us about her trip inland.

Our Pelota-loving Londoner Tiffany has written two important posts about the latest happenings in the Manomanista. After favourite Aimar Olaizola’s serious injury at the weekend, it looks as though Arretxe will be stepping into his shoes.

Tomorrow is an important day for Alava – San Prudencio is their saint’s day and they celebrate it with style and gusto. Find out why mushrooms and cooked snails will be so important to the province tomorrow.

As we’re talking about food, you might know that El Bulli is no longer officially the world’s best restaurant – it’s been taken over by a Dane. Two Basque restaurants – Mugaritz and Arzak – are still in the top ten.

That’s all for now.

Agur.

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Dear Basques,

Today, Monday April 26, marks the 73th anniversary of the bombing of the Basque town of Gernika .Thus, the town commemorates bombing victims today.  Peace Research Center ‘Gernika gogoratuz’ has awarded Basque Premier Jose Antonio Agirre with the Peace and reconciliation Award and world organization of Mayors for Peace.

In addition, the Euskal Herria Museum of Gernika is exhibiting from today, 26th of April to 25th of July 25th works created by Basque sculptor Jorge Oteiza between 1942 and 1987, inspired by the 1937 bombing of the Basque town of Gernika and by the famous painting by Pablo Picasso.

The S.Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2010 will be announced on Monday 26th April at the historic Guildhall in the City of London, in the company of the world’s finest chefs, international media and the world’s most influential restaurateurs.

Also today, Bilbao celebrates ‘Txakoli Eguna 2010′ while the Guipuzcoan capital of Donostia-San Sebasitan will be a meeting point for a number of wine cellars and oil mills: The Enolia Wine Fair of San Sebastian will play host to 63 exhibiting wines and oils, all aimed at professionals in the trade.

As part of the ACB Basketball League, Caja Laboral got over Splitter’s injury to defeat Manresa 78-69. Also on Sunday, Bizkaia Bilbao Basket defeated DKV Joventut to give one step closer to the playoffs, whereas Lagun Aro GBC fell at Blancos de Rueda Valladolid.

Have a nice day and we will see you tomorrow again!

Agur

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