Published by DEIA, June 16, 2011

AN anniversary is something that does not have less relevance because of its repetitive, it depends the same one belonging to the nature of the event that stands out.

Next Saturday, June 18, will have place in the Church of San Juan Bautista Saint of Leioa a very special concert that will begin the 10^th year celebration of Leioa Kantika Korala, a commemoration that reflects the effort of many people making won choral music, albums and with a great deal, very much, talent. At 8:30 p.m., and in addition to Kantika, also will participate in the same act, the juvenile chorus of feminine voices The Kantoria and San Abesbatza, of mixed voices, all belonging to the Municipal Conservatory´s Choral School of Leioa, inaugurating three compositions entrusted and written specially for that day by Xabier Sarasola, Josu Elberdin and Javier Busto.

I have always sought to intertwine the sound of the different instruments among themselves. The sum of their personalities is a magical combination. The voice is the most complex and perfect instrument God forbid existed and the sound that it is capable to express  has gotten to excite us during thousands of years that we all have brought ourselves near to that so complex and demanding world. For some time now I have been collaborating with Leioa Kantika Korala, trying to investigate, to discover and to create next to them, a whole world of shared sonorities, converting this collaboration in a fascinating adventure and a true pleasure.

In future dates Leioa Kantika Korala will share their music through the  Catalan lands, the French Provence and Sunday, July 24 in Zornotza Amorebieta, next to the great Xabier Amuriza and ourselves, that we will present, one more time, the spectacle Beti Bizi, with a fusion of voices, ancient Biscayan ballads, melodies of dance and a lot of illusion.

With the most ancient, the voice, you write down new full spaces of shades, colors and textures that I am absolutely delighted by…  ZORIONAK eta mila esker!!! (Congratulations and Thank you!!!)

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Published in DEIA, Jan 27, 2011

A place in which, not only their eyes are set on you but also energy, dreams and sensations come together. (Main auditorium)

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I often always imagine, even though I am still composing, how it will sound my music when I take it to a direct live concert that is where I like to experience it. I daydream and I make a guess how I will feel, how the public will receive it, and how the spectacle will take place. I believe that nobody escapes the temptation of trying to discover in our mind, as sighted clairvoyant, the so hoped-for future.

Thinking about it, we arrived to the Glaswegian city, in Scotland, where we present our project Beti Bizi in the prestigious Celtic music festival Celtic Connections.

Since 1993, Glasgow welcomes one of the most important worldwide festivities of Celtic music. This year, it began January 13 till the 30of this same month will close its doors, completing 18 days in which 1,500 artists will more of take part in the 300 concerts, events, talks etc… distributed in 14 stages throughout the whole city. Imagine yourselves for a moment the musical, cultural and personal explosion that all this supposes. The same day, there are a lot of concerts disseminated through the city and as a sequel to each day are the night-time jam sessions in the hotel of the festivity, where all artists that have taken part in the different events of the day meet and offer small live performance but in a intimate way, contributing still more that if it is so possible, to an amazing environment there in which one breathes.

The day of our performance arrived and everything worked wonderfully. We played in the main conference hall of the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall and the truth is that the concert was awesome. We all have a good time as never before. The band Leioa Kantika Korala and myself lived unforgettable moments. It was all as shocking as I had imagined it while we recorded Beti Bizi in the studio, as much, that I am looking forward to feel it again and to discover once more, that if it is intense to live it in first person, more is it to share with them and with you…..

www.kepajunkera.com

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Event Details

Kepa Junkera and Friends

Thursday 20th January 2011, 7.30pm

Glasgow Royal Concert Hall : Main Auditorium

Ever since Basque accordionist Kepa Junkera’s revelatory UK debut at Celtic Connections 1999, he’s had a bit of a mutual love-affair with Glasgow, even once the rest of the world caught on to his intrepid, inspirational virtuosity. Simultaneously with revitalising the rich heritage of the trikitixa – the Basque diatonic accordion – among other native traditions, Junkera is a tirelessly globe-trotting, genre-blind collaborator, whose string of acclaimed albums has seen him working with literally hundreds of international artists. Above all, though, he’s an electrifying, unforgettable live performer, and we’re delighted to welcome him back, together with his full band and several extra special guests, including the young female choir Leioa Kantika Korala, as featured on his newest recording project Beti Bizi.

Published in the website: http://www.celticconnections.com/whatson/event/103912-Kepa-Junkera-and-Friends

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Published in DEIA, Oct. 21, 2010

There are moments in the life that one does not expect. They appear and invade everything around with a tremendous force, producing a kind of crash of sensations of the most surprising. Moments that are not expected enrich less. Unique experiences knowing that the transcendent and special they are, you begin to enjoy them long before they even take place. Next October 23 the Conservatory of Leioa celebrates their 30 anniversary. In order to celebrate such event the following choirs will participate: La Kantoría, San Juan Bautista Abesbatza y Leioa Kantika Korala, as well as the Young Orchestra of Leioa, they will perform in the Palacio Euskalduna Auditorium of Bilbao. In the first part of the act, the 3 choral associations directed by Basilio Astulez will sing, while after that it will be the turn of the Young Orchestra of Leioa under the direction of Margarita Lorenzo of Reizabal and finally to conclude the act with Magnificat of Josu Elberdin, in which I will personally collaborate. When they invited me for the concert my feelings were of an immense joy. It’s very special to be able to share stage with them. Not only for who are they, but to be able to experience many things by their side. I have always felt attracted by the sensation of discovering new values that happen after having taken care of one’s, taught and somehow given a shape. That labor of the county’s singers that they take care of, in every level, from very many young children that attend the conservatory, gyms…  It will be so exciting to be able to feel and experiencing next to them that young energy of new hopes and illusions. So important as in hearing them, is as to see them and being aware that all of them are the product of your their own personal effort, but at the same time of all and every one of the people of the Conservatory of Leioa. We know that it is easier to buy than to create, to check out than to teach but the reward on a personal and human level when you see all that effort you gave out to them is there and  amazing…it’s priceless.  Zorionak!  (Congratulations)

www.kepajunkera.com

A video of Youth choir of Leioa directed by Basilio Astulez , Kepa Junkera and Xabier Amuriza of the Album BETI BIZI …

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BETI BIZI is Kepa Junkera´s new project accompanied by Xabier Amuriza and the female voices of the choir KANTIKA.

On Monday an interview was recorded for the cultural program of the Public Basque Television (EiTB) “EiTB Kultura” with Kepa Junkera and Xabier Amuriza, writer / bertsolari (improviser of oral verses) explaining all the details of this new album BETI BIZI.

Also in the interview we could count on the participation of the girls from the choir “LEIOA KANTIKA KORALA” who joined in with the accordion music of Kepa Junkera and the voice of Xabier Amuriza interpreting several songs of the album.

The program was recorded in a unique setting such as the Nature Interpretation Center Tower Madariaga located in one of the most privileged spots of the natural park of Urdaiba, in Busturia.

It is believed that the interview will be released on the 17^th of August in ETB 2, in Spanish while the 19^th of August it will be broadcasted in ETB 1 in Euskera, the basque language.

www.kepajunkera.com

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Published on July 1, 2010 by DEIA

Innovate and create something new, propose options, so far unknown, is something that is becoming increasingly hard. There is on one hand a simple calculation of probability and the other partly because our sense of wonder is narrowing a bit. Today, thanks to new technologies, our access to information is almost constant and in this globalized world we call that with one click of our mouse can travel virtually from one continent to another; it seems that nothing is going to draw attention. A few years ago the writer and bertsolari (Basque improviser singer) Xabier Amuriza had compiled a series of old Biscay songs among those that had carried out a selection and released an album that had a wide acceptance. But he still had remained material for another recording project and asked me if I was interested in working. Right away I said yes and began to imagine and intuit different ways to carry out this project. Of course, if I start to think about what I first imagined this album would be and it what it has finally become, the truth is that I am gobsmacked. Bizi Beti is the result of merging between the old Biscayan’s ballads, the voices of Leioa Kantika Korala completing the final product with the merge of the same with electronic music, resulting in a new recording project with a different proposal, brave and without complex. But getting here is essential to have the talent and dedication of a large team of people. I want to thank a very special way to Jose Luis Canal by schedules and arrangements he has been carried out, Basilio Astulez, Leioa Kantika Korala, Xabier Sarasola for that very special vision he has contributed to this album, and most particularly to Xabier Amuriza, great supporter of this project and I appreciate his generosity in sharing it with me. And finally each and every one of those who have taken part in this record, because to me all the notes are equally important, both the rhythm just as the melody.

www.kepajunkera.com

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A new step forward of the trikitixa

Amuriza, Leioa Kantika Junkera Koral and joining tradition and modernity in assigning “surprising”

Published by Ander Egiluz Beramendi for DEIA on July 4, 2010

Betibizi. Immortelle. It is the flower that is placed on the lapel of the dancers, and is the title of the new album with the signature of  Xabier Amuriza, Leioa Kantika Koral, along with the inexhaustible Kepa Junkera. “The title has a double meaning,” says the bertsolari of Etxano-“On one side is a direct reference to the flower of the dancers, a tribute to them all, and secondly the demand for the dance, of its vitality and eternity”.

The album, published by Hiri Records, has great coral presence, also having the  trikitixa of Junkera and with the foundations on ancient ballad Biscayan´songs and classical melodies of dance that Amuriza has collected and sorted. But it does not sound as expected. The CD, shocks you, a lot. “People may be surprised,” the musician of Rekalde sincerely says. “It’s an album to enjoy listening to in hi-fi system”. And if anything characterizes the large group that has join together in this project- so many names that always one is always left behind, is the obsession for a work well done. “I’ve been very careful with this recording because I know how Xabier works and the time he has spent on its and I wanted to be at the height of the circumstances,” says the trikitilari.

With a copy in his hand, Amuriza laughs from the little that the CD holds in comparison with the books in which, ten years ago, recovered the verses. “So much work and so little presence,” jokes the two of them, with a very good reason: the first steps of the project were taken “almost nine years ago!”, exclaims Junkera.

The label market situation also is not at all buoyant and explains the musician, “it will become increasingly more difficult to make records like this, many years of work.” But creativity can not stop on breaking down barriers.

Innovate

Beyond the triki and tambourine

What is most striking in the first electronic sounds heard that the artist used for this. The album is the second part of a project that Amriza began more than a decade, with the recording Bizkaiko kopla zaharrak, in which Tapia ta Leturia participated. On that occasion the result was more classic, “The Sound of lifelong triki with melodies and lyrics together forever,” says Xavier. But for this second part I wanted to change the recording -there fits the idea of mixing dance tunes with other types of ballads-, and who became his traveling companion, Kepa Junkera, also soughing  new atmospheres. “It has always caught my attention to play differently,” honestly speaking Junkera. “Not always playing the triki with the tambourine.

The “hunger and appetite” got together, two natural born innovators, ground-breakers, each in his personal field.  Xabier revolutionized improvisation by showing that it was not a privilege of gifted persons and Kepa did the same to bring trikitixa to dispute in the market, and often to pull it off, with the mass of radio pop formulas. On their innovative impulses Amuriza believes that “we must be daring.” “Also, at that moment you do not realize the impact of those changes retrospectively. Perhaps we are looking too far into the future …”

Kepa Junkera, despite of always seek new ways for that “infernal bellows” -like he called the triki in his first album, “it´s still thrilling in a special way with the most classic sound of the trikitixa:  “Fasi, Epelde, Leon Bilbao… were persons with a special charisma and when I hear those sounds something stirs up inside of me.” But this time, in addition to the innovations proposed by Xabier and the electronic bases, the guy of Rekalde “I wanted to do new things with the choir.” And that’s where Astulez Basilio comes in, the director of Leioa Kantika Koral, “a man who does an awesome job,” according to Junkera. He was a great challenge for a choir because, for one, it meant to record separately and in one same microphone the alto, bass … But the final result has been impeccable. “It’s exciting to see a group of girls so young and so serious liking to do new things,” says Junkera.

This type of projects “stimulate the imagination and inspiration and making you enjoy it,” says rekaldetarra (a person born in the Rekalde) proudly looking at the CD. “And that is important,” he adds. Both artists agreed that sentimentally finishing the job “is a prided.” To which Kepa adds that Betibizi “is an album that gives us fresh air.” New and innovative. Something about what Amuriza reconsiders in the preface of the album: “The effect has been fascinating.” It will cushion the effect for the conversion of novelty in practice?”  Not so. May it continue to open new paths, even if the circumstances appear to be adverse.  A great album.

www.kepajunkera.com

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Kepa Junkera´s new release BETI BIZI is now on sale.

The album presented under the seal HIRI RECORDS is the latest work of the musician of Rekalde (a neighborhood of Bilbao) for the moment, with the collaboration of the writer and “bertsolari” (Basque improviser singer) Xabier Amuriza and the voices of the choir LEIOA KANTIKA KORALA.

A different and innovative album with that special touch of Kepa Music seals the unmistakable style of this project.  A brave, energetic album that brings together our past with our present, in an elegant proposal without complexes, a CD that will surprise everyone who listens.

BETI BIZI on sale and also in Internet, for more information “CLICK HERE”

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BILBAO. The bertsolari (Basque improviser singer) Xabier Bilbao Amuriza presented today in Bilbao the album ‘Bizi Beti’, a CD in which has collaborated the trikitilari Kepa Junkera that combines Ancient Biscayans´ ballads and sung by the Leioa Kantika Korala and fused with electronic music.

This new album, presented at the Headquarters of the SGAE,  Amuriza himself tells us that the CD consists of 12 tracks that includes “that musical touch of Kepa Junkera” allows us “to approach this new album in a different way, combining past, present and even perhaps to give us a glimpse of patterns of the near future.”

“A new concept of musical fusion, a different sound and most innovative proposal of coral in the moment” tells us Iñaki Iraeta, manager of Hiri Records, responsible for the production of this project.

Also Amuriza highlighted that it is “Old verses, a youth choir, lively rhythms of dance and electronic sounds” that is a continuity of his previous album he conducted in a much more “traditional” way with trikitixa but again focused on old Biscayans´ballads.

Information and photo from DEIA.

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XABIER AMURIZA     /     LEIOA KANTIKA KORALA     /     KEPA JUNKERA

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BETI BIZI is the new album presented under the label of Hiri Records and the production by the musician Kepa Junkera. Xabier Amuriza, the chorus of LEIOA KANTIKA KORALA and Kepa Junkera, himself joined their talents to present this new album composed of 12 songs that seamlessly blend our past, choral and electronic music.

“Old verses, a youth choir, lively rhythms of dance and electronic sounds make up the novelty and strength of this project” Xabier Amuriza

Ancient Biscayans´ ballads recovered by Xabier Amuriza, sung by LEIOA KANTIKA KORALA and that special touch of Kepa Music seals the unmistakable style of this album which allows us to approach this new album in a different way, combining past, present and even perhaps to give us a glimpse of patterns of the near future.

“A new concept of musical fusion, a different sound and most innovative proposal of coral in the moment” Kepa Junkera

An original bet, accomplice and emotionally charged.  A meeting place of talents and various proposals that make one of the most special projects for the moment. BETI BIZI.

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