Basques around the world

Good morning/afternoon!

We have a couple of great blog posts today Basques.

Firstly, a new post on our Basque Country Live blog. This time a one-to-one with Jon Warren, the man behind San Sebastian Food and co-creator of the Discover the Basque Country Tour, both of which we wrote about last week.

It’s all go since we started our Kepa Junkera blog – Kepa played the Chino Basque club in Chino California on Saturday, a visit which was to coincide with a recording session.

Talking of music: We told you that legendary blues musician John Mayall would be playing Bilbao. Well check out the video of his performance.

Eitb.com also managed a scoop with famous US creative writer Robert McKee, who’ll be dropping into our headquarters on Friday. He gave us an exclusive interview in the lead up to his visit, which you can see here.

That’s all for now.

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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 afternoon.

First up, ‘Basque’ member David Larrabee has sent us this interesting link: http://sacred-texts.com/neu/basque/index.htm, which throws up some interesting items on Basque legends.

Jon Warren has written an interesting entry into his diary which he’s posted on our ‘Discover the Basque Country‘ blog. Get an insight into Jon’s gastronomic adventures.

Jon’s partner on the new ‘Discover the Basque Country’ tour, Basque expert Paddy Woodworth wrote to tell us that the new venture has received coverage in two important US sites, as well as the good news that they have already received their first bookings.

Further news on our Dos Paredes pelota blog: This weekend, Group A will compete in the Manomanista, with Martinez de Irujo still the hot favourite. Find out the line-up here.

And on our Basque Country Live blog: read about adopted Basque Angela Linskey who left her home in Yorkshire almost 40 years ago and now runs an organic farm on renewable energies producing fruit jams and jellies. Also see some spectacular photos of Angela’s farmhouse Naera Haundi.

The debate rumbles on following Restaurant magazine’s publication of this year’s top 50 eateries: find out why Basque chef Juan Mari Arzak was indignant at the decision to rate ‘El Bulli’ in second place.

Ondo ibili!

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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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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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Good afternoon to you Basques.

Well, summer is definitely on its way. Skies here are blue and sunny and the atmosphere is gearing up to a season of festival and frolics.

Talking of frolics, don’t forget AC/DC are playing Bilbao again soon. If you’re nearby and are thinking of going, tickets are on sale from tomorrow.

One of the next musical events in the calender is Donostia-San Sebastian’s Musicial Fortnight, taking place this year between August 7^th and September 3^rd.  Find out what it got in store this year and get a glimpse at the official programme.

In Pelota, Olaizola I beat Bengoetxea VI in the first match of the Pairs Championship, while it looks like our home-grown mountaineer Edurne Pasaban may actually be the first female to scale all fourteen 8000ers.

Not such good news for Osasuna, unfortunately, who now find themselves in the relegation zone.

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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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Hi Basques –

American Basque Joe Guerricabeitia, of the Seattle Basque Club, has written to remind fellow US citizens to correctly complete the forthcoming census, making sure to specify ‘Basque’ in the ‘Hispanic other’ section to help give a true picture of the current population.

While we’re on the subject, a new book Diasporas in the New Media Age looks into how modern immigrant communities use communication technology to keep in touch with their families and maintain their cultures. The book was written by Andoni Alonso and Pedro J. Oiarzabal, two Basque scholars, and published by the University of Nevada.

Meanwhile, just before we break for the long weekend, this year’s “Ocean’s Initiative” organized by the Surfrider Foundation, has kicked off with beach cleans being run in San Sebastian and Iparralde. Why not find out where there’s one going on near you.

That’s all for now.

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An interesting couple of days for Basques this weekend:

On Saturday, London-based Basque Yesenia Otamendi left a post on our ‘Basque people around the world’ Wall, inviting us to the 3^rd International Week of Solidarity with the Basque Country as part of the Basque Solidarity Campaign in London.

Our regular if unlikely contributor to the Dos Paredes Pelota blog, Londoner Tiffany, left her latest post about this weekend’s pelota matches, which you can also see on-line by visiting  http://www.eitb.com/television/etb-sat

Bad news for Athletic fans in Saturday’s match against Villareal, we’re sorry to report.

On Sunday, the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra played a benefit concert for Haiti; the Euskadi Symphony Orchestra and San Sebastian Choral Society are set to do the same later this month.

Those of you living in New York may have seen Basque soprano Amaya Arberas make her debut on Saturday night at the prestigious Carnegie Hall of New York as reward for her hard work.

Speaking of music, any rock fans will be glad to know that the details of this year’s Azkena Rock festival have been finalized, and tickets have now gone on sale.

Lastly, Txema Millan, a Radio Euskadi listener, shared some photographs with us, taken by his grandfather after a snowstorm in Bilbao in February 1956.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

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