Basques around the world

Good afternoon Basques from a very – very – rainy Basque Country.

We’re almost drowning here from all the rain, and some parts of Biscay are even experience floods. Let’s hope it doesn’t get any worse.

Despite the miserable weather, we’re still celebrating… following Real Sociedad’s promotion to the first division, the latest fabulous sporting news is that Vitoria’s basketball team, Caja Laboral Baskonia, are now ACB Champions following a nail-biting match against rivals Regal Barcelona.

For those of you who haven’t heard of Ipuina Kontatu, today there’s a special item about the documentary which was filmed by American Emily Lobsenz. Emily discovered the Basque Country by chance, fell in love with the place and has now made a documentary. The title – Ipuina Kontatu – means ‘telling stories’, which is a clue to the format of the film, entirely based on first hand accounts from Basque shepherds, fishermen and many more typical figures.

For those of you struggling to learn Euskera – and even those who aren’t it’s really worth your while to check out the posts written by Cody Beaudreau and Megan Otteman, two Americans from Boise currently at the Barnetegi in Lazkao… real eye-openers.

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Good day to you from an overcast Basque Country, that promises sun, sun, sun tomorrow.

Many of you will not realize that this is an important date for the Basque Country. Today – April 23^rd – marks 30 years since the autonomous parliament was set up. Activities have been organized for the rest of the year.

We’ve got a weekend packed full of culture starting today in San Sebastian. Firstly, the Rompeolas festival has already started.This is an initiative organised to drive the city’s candidacy to be European Cultural Capital in 2016 and its 2 main ingredients are culture and citizen participation. The bells of the city were rung earlier to day, calling the people to come along and join in the fun!

Meanwhile, the 8^th Human Rights Film Festival also kicked off today, with a week of feature lengths and shorts about current social issues from all around the world.

Don’t forget to read our Dos Paredes blog as Olaizola II, twice a former winner of the Manomanista Championship is the red hot favourite as he goes up on Saturday against Patxi Ruiz.

And if you like baseball, do you remember Mark Kurlansky, who famously wrote about Basques in his book “Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World”?  In his latest book, Kurlansky traces the origins of the sport to the Dominican Republic.

And as spring is fully upon us, the Basque Country once again promises to be a great destination for a long weekend this May and into the summer – and also one of the safest!

Have a good weekend.

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Hi Basques –

We’re made up today (really happy!) as the Basque Country and/ or Basques have been receiving praise and accolades from every corner.

Firstly, chef Eneko Atxa has just been named Chef of the Future by the International Academy of Gastronomy, which awards the title to only the most promising the innovative of cooks.

Elsewhere, UK national newspaper The Guardian has been singing the praises of our cider and cider houses. Check out what they have to say and find out which sagardotegis they’ve named in their top ten.

And last (but not least) another couple of famous Basques, Javier Aguirresarobe – cinematographer on films like The Road – and Mikel Urmeneta (he of Kukusumusu t-shirts and so on) have received the Universal Basque Award from the Basque Government and Caja Laboral.

We feel like winners today – except for Athletic, who lost 2-0 to Valencia last night. Well, you can’t win ‘em all!

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Hi Basques –

Firstly, a correction: José Alcayaga (the US-Basque photographer) kindly wrote to inform us that his photo exhibition is on in Greenwich Connecticut and NOT New York! Thanks for that José.

Otherwise, if you’re curious about Basque history you should definitely read on:

This Thursday and Friday (April 15^th and 16^th) at the University of Nevada in Reno is the 9^th Annual International Conference. This year the title is “War, Exile, Justice and Everyday Life, 1936 -1946” and includes an interesting section on Basques caught up in the civil war and in exile.

Back in the 1960s, one such Basque exile – Gotzon Elortza, then residing in France – would sneak across the State border to film his land and people, knowing it would help keep the language alive. Three documentaries by Elortza – the first ever to be filmed in the Basque language – are now being re-mastered.

Fittingly enough, this Thursday also sees the start of the Zinebi International Short Films and Documentaries Festival, which offers two months of films in the categories of shorts and documentaries – check it out if you can.

Some great news if you’re looking for a cultural holiday to the Basque Country – author Paddy Woodworth and chef Jon Warren have teamed up to offer you a unique Basque adventure. The first one will be this July between 5^th and 8^th and includes a trip to San Fermines in Lesaka, Navarre.

Bihar arte!

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Good evening Basques –

We’ve more than 2,200 members in our Basques Around the World Group and we’re still going strong. We really enjoy receiving your comments and contributions and look forward to receiving many more.

So let us know what you think of three interesting news items we’ve had today:

Firstly, Basque cookery once again enjoyed international fame, this time at the hands of none other than the BBC! But rather than Michelin-star restaurants or pintxos, this report looked at another important part of our tradition: the ‘txoko’, or gastronomic societies.

You will no doubt remember the 47 tense days reported here by eitb.com when the Basque fishing vessel the ‘Alakrana’ was hijacked by Somali pirates? Now those seven weeks are to become the subject of a brand new film entitled ‘Alakrana’ from the pen of Basque screen writer Jorge Guerricaechevarría, who wrote the multi Goya Award-winning Cell 211.

Another Basque branching out into international waters is Bilbao-born surfer Kepa Acero, who’ll be heading off in May around the 5 continents of the globe to face whatever nature has to throw at him, as well as 5 world-class waves. You’ll be able to follow his journey – entitled 5 Waves, 5 Continents – on his website.

That’s all for today – let us know what you think!

Bihar arte.

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Good day to you Basques,

Boise’s international Basque Cultural Festival is drawing ever nearer folks, and two Boise sisters of Basque heritage have launched their latest Basque designs to coincide with the event; this year they hope to branch out and bring their creations to the ‘Old Country’. Read about ‘Ahizpak’ and see some of their designs here.

Our English pelota fan Tiffany provides the latest from the Fronton, with the good news that Abel Barriola has finally returned after a year of being out with injury. His comeback match will take place today in his home town of Leitza (Navarre) alongside Berasaluze IX, up against duo Idoate and Goni III.

In other news, Yo La Tengo, the noise band which was in many respects the quintessential critics’ band during the 90s, will be playing at Barakaldo’s Rock Star Live concert hall on 18th March, which is located about 7 kilometres far from the centre of Bilbao.

On a different ‘note’, internationally-acclaimed Basque musician Kepa Junkera has followed up his work on the short film about Pelota, released this year. This time he’s been collaborating on a big-screen production, not only helping out on the soundtrack of Emilio Aragon’s latest movie Birds of Paper, but giving some important advice on how to play the Trikitixa.

Finally, today our Basque Tourism blog reveals some interesting information, not least that the world’s biggest Rolls Royce collection is housed just 35kms west of Bilbao. It is in fact a collection of 75 unique cars, which also includes Lamborghini, Ferrari and Bentley, among others. If rare cars are your thing, you might think about taking a trip there next time you visit the Basque Country!

That’s all for today.  Have a great weekend!

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