Basques around the world

Arratsalde on!

Wherever you are, I hope the weather is to your liking.  Over here, August has so far been typically Basque, by which I mean varied, sometimes wet but never lacking in beauty. You only have to take a look at our Eguraldiblog users to see that!

Once again Zorionak, Enhorabuena, Félicitations and Congratulations to Javi Aitor Zubizarreta, a Basques Around the World group member and one that’s frequently been making our headlines recently. The latest is that Javi received an important Award following on from his work on Artzainak: Shepherds and Sheep.

Igor caught up with him in Boise and got a taster of what’s to come in his next movie. It’s a fiction movie – though still no sign of Super-Basko!

Once again the Basque Country has hit the headlines in New York for its gastronomy – what else? Yesterday the focus was a wine, little known internationally but increasingly popular here and in the US. You guessed it – Txakoli.. Enter here to find out what they said – you may be surprised.

You may remember last month we published a report ‘on the ground’ from San Fermines in Lesaka, where we got a firsthand insight into the Discover the Basque Country tour?

Paddy Woodworth, Irish journalist and author of two books about the Basque Country, is one of the co-creators of that tour and has been telling Olwen what it’s like to share a passion.

That’s all for now.

Laister arte!

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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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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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Hello-

Well I don’t know what the weather’s like where you are, but it’s typical Basque weather here today. However, it would seem we’re promised good, stable weather for the weekend, so here’s hoping.

The big news on this side of the Atlantic is that ex-Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman is playing a gig in the Basque capital Vitoria on Friday night. He’ll be heading up his new band, ‘The Rhythm Kings’.

We have three exciting new blog entries, firstly on our Tourist ‘Off the Beaten Track’ blog; Kepa Junkera has left his latest post about this year’s Jaialdi; and catch the latest from Tiffany about the Pelota.

And for Athletic fans, a new signing. Alaves player Igor Martinez will play for the team next season.

Ondo pasa!

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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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Hi Basques,

As we explained when the group was formed, we endeavour to keep you abreast of all the most interesting goings on in the Basque Country.

The rain persists, so just as well our news can offer a ray of sunshine!

The best news today is that Bilbao has become the first city to win a Nobel prize! The Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize was launched last year by the city of Singapore in conjunction with the Swedish Nobel academy. By all accounts, the jury was impressed by the Biscay capital’s post-industrial regeneration.

Mugalari, of our Basque Tourism Blogue, has sent us his latest post. This one is entitled Some Places I Like in Bilbao You May Also Like, and suggests nine spots a bit out of the ordinary that could appeal to the more curious visitor.

Also for Pelota fans – don’t forget to check out the latest post on our Dos Paredes, English pelota blog. Tiffany’s latest post has some interesting news about the Final Four of the Manomanista.

That’s all for now.

Gero arte.

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Hi Basques,

We have a cracking item for you today Basques.  You might remember our previous articles about Ahizpak, two American-born Basque sisters from Nevada who moved to Boise eight years ago and started their own design company based on Basque symbolism.

Our latest article about them includes a video about one of the sisters – Maite – who came to EITB in Bilbao to pay us a visit and tell us first-hand about Ahizpak and what they’ve got planned for the upcoming Jaialdi festival.  Check out the article and video.

Meanwhile,  stay up to date with the latest news from the Manomanista with the latest entry on our Dos Paredes – English Pelota blog.

And lastly, much rain with a few sunny patches here and there have their (colourful) advantage, depending on where you’re standing of course! Enjoy these weather photos.

Laister arte.

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Good day Basques,

We wish everyone a good day and hope that wherever you are the weather is better than here!

Firstly, just a quick note to let our members know that group member Alberto López Palacios has written an important message on our wall. Alberto and his wife have a son and daughter suffering from a rare illness and are hoping for our help and support. For more information, take a look at their facebook group: “Buscando una oportunidad para Arene”.

Elsewhere, and despite the wind and rain – and in some places snow – the news goes on:

Pelota fans will be interested to know that the latest Manomanista match saw two players from the same town go head to head. Leitza, a Navarran town with a strong history and even stronger following of Pelota was thoroughly divided on Sunday as Abel Barriola met Oinatz Bengoetxea. But what was the result?

If you’re learning Euskara, take a look at our Learning Basque Blog. Isabel Zialcita gives us her latest tip for learning and memorising vocabulary, and much more, with the Language Learning Toolkit.

Other sports new is that Bizkaia Bilbao Basket beat Gran Canaria, though unfortunately it wasn’t enough to make it to the playoffs.

Gero arte!

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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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