Basques around the world

Hi Basques,

Day three of Jaialdi promises Basque sports galore including some of the biggest names in the world of Herri Kirolak and the NABO Pelota tournament.

Wednesday night, meanwhile, traditionally a big night, was apparently rocked harder than ever thanks to the likes of Amuma Says No and the Oinkaris. Basques All Around the World group members Katie D’Angelo (remember her?) and Jose Antonio Alcayaga III were there to soak up the atmosphere and give their take on the  events of the evening.

Meanwhile Kepa Junkera, who was in Boise earlier this year and went down a storm, has been busy playing gigs in Catalonia, Caceres… you name it. He’s also been busy on his blog, with two new posts: One is an interview he gave to Biscay newspaper Deia on July 8^th. Another one is further news about his and Xabier Amuriza’s latest combined work BETI BIZI.

More news soon.

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Arratsalde on!

There are just 4 days and 16 hours to go until the start of this year’s Jaialdi celebrations in Boise. Throughout the course of the festival, we’ll be bringing you news, images and updates of goings-on.

As you can imagine, with less than a week to go Boiseans are now in the final stages of preparations. It is now the turns of Boise Mayor David Bieter and Basque Museum Director Patty Miller to tell us how each of them has been preparing for Jaialdi.

Dave Bieter, a Boisean of Basque descent, says that there are more Basques than ever visiting from the Basque Country and just to make us feel welcome recorded an invite in his very best Euskera!

News this side of the Atlantic includes the latest from San Sebastian’s Heineken Jazzaldia, which included an important award presentation for double-bassist Roy Carter and a performance from Cuba’s Arturo Sandoval.

Laister arte!

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Good afternoon,

Following up so soon on our now twice-weekly updates we just had to tell you about our interview with Emily Lobsenz, the US filmmaker who is seeking backing for her documentary Ipuina Kontatu.

The documentary takes a fascinating look at Basque culture and how it has managed to survive so many slings and arrows.

Read the intriguing interview and find out how you can take a part in the film’s release and get a sheep named after you! Plus receive some other interesting perks.

Ipuina Kontatu [Telling Stories] -promo trailer from Daggewood Films – Emily Lobsenz on Vimeo.

Other interesting news today is that Elhuyar Basque Encyclopaedia is now up and running. But don’t worry if you don’t speak Euskera – the on-line science and technology Encyclopaedia also offers definitions in English, Spanish and French.

Joe Sample and Randy Crawford play at Vitoria’s Jazzaldia tonight. Meanwhile, enjoy a video of last night’s gig with Diane Reeves.

Have a great weekend.

Ondo pasa!

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Hey Basques,

There are only minimum services today due to industrial action, though the sun certainly isn’t on strike.

Remember we told you a few weeks ago that Bilbao had been awarded a ‘Nobel’ prize thanks to its ‘liveability’ and post-industrial rejuvenation? Well the City Mayor is currently in Singapore to pick up that award.

Mugalari has written about another good reason to visit the city. You may or may not know about the hanging bridge, actually classed as a World Heritage Monument by UNESCO. A fantastic piece of machinery, it’s been running since 1893.

Don’t forget of course that AC/DC played in the Basque capital last night. By all accounts the whole of the San Mames stadium rocked to the Australian band’s gig, possibly their last ever – and they played it in Bilbao! Why would that be, we wonder..?

Don’t forget the next big musical event is BBK Live, starting on July 8th. If you don’t know already, here’s a sneak peak at some of the acts playing on the first night.

That’s all for now!

Gero arte.

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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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Hi Basques,

An historic day today for Bilbao, the Basque Country – perhaps, indeed, the world! As momentous achievements, big and small, are being achieved in all corners:

First and foremost, the laying of the first stone of Athletic Bilbao’s new stadium, San Mames Barria.

Enjoy the taster video we’ve included for you here, and read about the “emotional” occasion which included a giant human chain (also with video).

Another significant Basque sporting event was also happening some miles away: Home-grown mountaineer Edurne Pasaban landed at Madrid airport after completing her challenge to climb the 14 8000ers – read what she had to say about her feelings, the future and what it is like to be the second woman to manage the feat.

And, as if you needed more reasons to come to Biscay: The province’s Txakoli wine was recently highly-rated by esteemed US wine-taster Robert Parker.

Lastly, if you’re in or around the Basque Country this autumn, you might like to know that legendary group Supertramp will be playing at the BEC! in Barakaldo on September 17^th.

That’s all for now!

Agur.

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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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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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