Kepa Junkera

Published in DEIA, Dec. 16, 2010

I know his daughter, Estrella. Curiously she was the person who opened the trilogy project singing Haurtxo txiki of the album Etxea. I always imagined being able to fuse together our oral tradition with the flamenco music and the result was spectacular. They have just mention to me that she sang softly to her father’s ears melodies and songs while he found himself bedridden in the hospital.  Incredible! Enrique Morente, the great revolutionary of the singing, past away last Monday at the age of 67.  The “maestro” that every time he sung imposed the law of his talent he was one of the most renewing and important figures of the contemporary flamenco. He was born on Christmas Day, 1942 in Granada and being an adolescent he traveled to Madrid being very curious of learning and discovering the secrets of singing. Enrique “el granaíno” (the man from Granda) as he was known then, aroused the interest of a full heart born ethnic Flamenco singer, Pepe de la Matrona,  because of  his attitude and devotion in his art. During his career he touched stick there was, as well he presumed, affirming that he was the only capable one to sing the “49  notes and half of the jondo”. He fused the flamenco with oceans of cultures and music’s. He experimented with a lot of artists of very different styles. He sang poems and the letters of the most important writers and also he could dedicate himself to the pure of singing. He always looked further on and was ahead of his time, with the resulting criticisms; “They criticized me of being innovative and not being Gypsy”, he said. He obtained very important prizes like the National Award of Music or the gold Medal to the Merit in the Fine Arts among others. Besides he had and kept a deep affection to our land and maintained a great friendship with another great artist of our homeland, Mikel Laboa. Flamenco is something energetic, sincere, of worldly essence, something that is kept in their souls, a mystery that reminds the crying and forces it vast of the human soul.  Morente would say that you have to be “savage, free and to sing what you feel”, or what is all the same, being oneself.  Thank you “Maestro” for so much talent and all the singing.

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Published in DEIA, Nov. 18, 2010

WHEN after an adventure that I have lived this past year and with the results in your hand to present it in public, you can feel all types of sensations. You always create some kind of profound respect of everyone’s opinion towards your work. . One knows all that he has lived, felt, and even what it represents for him all that he has experienced in life, but the great question that always comes to my mind is: How do I make myself express to others and to make them have an image, the closest possible, of the outcome? Herria is one of the most special and intensive albums that I have had opportunity to present. Recorded in New York, Oakland, Paris, Casablanca, Istanbul, Athens, Boise Idaho, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Antonio Texas, Hawaii and Bilbao, this record is like the final attainment of an incredible project. In this occasion I have counted with the help, among others, of Eleftheria Arvanitaki, the voices of Chelle’s and Friends, the quintet of Dave Douglas, the incredible All Nations Singers, the people of the Boise´s Choir, NOKA, Amuma Says No, the Texan music and so on, more then 130 artists of 28 countries or writers like Bernardo Atxaga and my friend Xabier Amuriza. A whole challenge of agendas, journeys, airports, taxis, education, schedules etc. Remembering the previous ones Etxea and Kalea, Herria has supposed a new turn around focus, something like curling the curl just a little more of the efforts and the complicities of it all. I do not exaggerate if I say that I am very proud of the outcome. It is not a perfect work but definitely I have counted on great collaborators and the perfect team. Result: 23 songs in which we have overturned to the last straw of what we have inside, literally emptiness, in a job that I hope will produce oceans of sensations in all those who decide to undertake this journey, around the world, just like our ancestors carried out in search of a better life. Kaixo denori, hona hemen Herria!

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A small info video of the concert in Sofia.

Sofia, 27 Oct. ( EFE).- The musician from Bilbao, Kepa Junkera, gave forth in Sofia a moving and unforgettable spectacle of rhythms and traditional Basque sounds that made the Bulgarian audience fall in love, totally unknown music in the Balkan country that tonight he presents for the first time.

During almost two hours the composer, producer and the artist did not stop provoking admirations on behalf of the majority of 1,200 spectators that have been hypnotized by the magic of his interpretation of trikitixa, a typical Basque diatonic accordion.

The “the king of the accordion” surpassed the challenge of attracting the public with this instrument known in the Balkan country as typical of the folkloric music, but with a completely unknown and contagious tonality.

In addition to this Basque accordion, the spectators also had a good time with other musical instruments like the txalaparta, a kind of percussion whose thick board is hit in pairs with four sticks, and also the alboka, a traditional instrument of wind.

Junkera that was awarded in 2004 with a Grammy for the best Folkloric album, The Bulgarian’s auditorium untied surges of applauses for his interpretation, well-known to have the best acoustics of The Balkans, and also to make a speech in Bulgarian’s language, winning his way to the public.

News published in the newspaper ABC.

27-10-2010 / 23:40 h

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The musician is finishing “Herria”, the record that will close his trilogy of Basque songs.  It’s his most international album and has recorded with American, European and African artists.

Although I miss that spirit, that sensation of discovering things when I was 10 years old, Kepa Junkera keeps on exploring new ways in the musical scene. These days he is finishing mixing the songs that compose the third music album of his trilogy. Herria will be released next month of November but if the musician doesn´t feel that the outcome is what he wanted then it will be released later.

After Etxea and Kalea, Kepa Junkera dashes to a most universal and cosmopolitan adventure. If for the first record he counted on state artists, for the second one he increased his influence to South America, in Herria he´s gone a little further crossing the Atlantic to go to United States. “I have recorded in Saint Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, in cities that are very opened, of encounter. And I wanted to finish with this type of cities, of more universal towns “, Junkera explains to who underlines the opening of this project.” It is very free way to face the musical and human encounter. What I look for is sharing these Basque folksongs and what they mean. Sharing our culture with people of other territories, of other musical visions “.

With the great acceptance that had his two first records of the trilogy, this third one promises. “I am very happy about the repercussion that they have had. This is a long term project.  It will understood better within time. In spite of working with folksongs, it has that point of invention that is needed to be understood “, the native of Bilbao comments.

AMBASSADOR PROJECT If somewhat awakes our curiosity of this work is the multiculturalisms that he picks up. Artists around the world have brought their particular grist to the mill. People of Pakistan, of Korea, of Japan, Moroccan or of Madagascar, as for an European and American musicians.

And to increase the difficulty of the record, they all sang in euskera. ” Many times, from inside, it seems to be a task more complicated. It would be if they offered me an interesting proposal to which I am not familiar with. Maybe, you face yourself from a positive view “, Kepa Junkera explains.  The musician recognizes that the people at first moment are surprised but little by little they change that reaction toward a open new view point. “They take it as an honor. For them, it is a great satisfaction to be part in a culture that many know and for others that they have heard about”. Junkera praises the work that his companions have done in Herria. “They start to know but them they implicate themselves more. They look for, they rummage and they are very excited about it.” This union of cultures grants us a look of “an ambassador project” to the album, according to Junkera, he admits that among the three albums there are” more than 200 singers” from around the world.

And it is not a job of musicology where you look for the hyper-perfection in all the notes. “you always are going to have the accent, the bell. And it seems enriching to me that there is that variety “, explains.

So much wealth cultural contributes to very enriching shades. Songs of jazz, blues, all sounds have a spot. “We have to listen to it. I try that it has a connection, that they can´t be like separate islands although I give freedom “, stands out with the example of this theme, Egun da Santimamina, with the lyrics of Xabier Amuriza and Gabriel Aresti, to the one he was mixing upon this interview. “It is a theme recorded with the American Indians of different tribes and with the descendants of the Basques, of the Basque shepherds, that they are Americans.

A lot of new voices but also a lot of new instruments. “There are standard instruments like the piano or the drums but also other more strangers as the laúd, that is the Arab guitar, the Indian drum or the ney, that is a kind of flute”, telling us  Junkera and that increases  this particular list with Turkish or Greek instruments like the lyre of Crete.

FUTURE Accustom to hook a project with another one, Kepa Junkera already has his eyes set on new ideas although among them it is not on a new trilogy. “I ´m in eager to finish this. It has been many years of work for me and I want to enjoy it but from a certain distance.” he assures. Although this affirmation is not reduced to only this work in which he has be submerged during 5 years. “It happens with all of them.  I just need to detach from them”.

And in order that that distance in relation to the trilogy becomes a reality, Kepa Junkera already thinks “in a recording a new album with my group, if everything is goes alright. I have done many projects in recent times. I will focus on that and in playing. I want to return more full”.

But those expectations do not center themselves only in composing a new record but also he has new experiences in mind. He’s also thinking about the possibility of presenting the trilogy in a pack and of the first record he already has a book. “I am open. In order to make it, I´m delighted. We have photos from Santi Yaniz to photographers of the whole world, very interesting for a book “, Junkera indicates who lengthens his vision of work.” I am with the documentary, since I have recorded the whole process in video. Let’s see if for the coming year we can do something “.

It’s more than 30 years of career with his trikitixa and Kepa Junkera and looks back and he is satisfied with the outcome. “I am very happy with what I have achieved. For me, in the beginning, this was a game. I had never imagined that I would be here”.

Published in DEIA

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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.

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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.

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