174- Identity: the
building blocks of
2. Literature
and philosophy
3. Art and
architecture
4. Performing
arts
5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
communications
7. Food and drink 8. Living culture:
the details of
Basque Country
In Euskal Herria the instrument of choice is atrikitrixa,
an accordion that squeezes out a virile music of the
same name, testing the suppleness of the most
gymnastic dancer. Another instrument is thetxistu,a
three-holed recorder that leaves one hand free for some
other device, probably a drum or tambourine. A couple
oftrikitrixaplayers are important to Spain’s folk revival.
Self-taught JosebaTapia played accordion to sidekick
Leturia’s tambourine in a popular duet for years, and has
gone on to promote Basque music outside the region.
In 2001 he released an album of Basque songs from the
Civil War. Kepa Junkera has been similarly ubiquitous on
the recent Basque music scene. But for full-on
Basqueness lend an ear to Oskorri, firebrand folkies
who had a covert following even before Franco died.Catalonia and the Balearics
The circularsardanadance inspires much traditional
Catalan music, played by acobla, essentially a wind
band that makes room for a double bass. While not
desperately traditional, the work of singer-songwriters
Lluís Llach, Joan Manuel Serrat and Raimon (actually
Valencian) became hugely important to the region in
the later Franco years. Part of the so-calledNova Canço
movement, they stuck their necks out and sung in
Catalan to moan about the Generalísimo. All are still
writing songs and selling out gigs. Maria del Mar Bonet,
a legendary Majorcan singer, emerged among the
Nova Cançobrigade but used a more traditional style.
She introduced Majorcan folk song to the rest of Spain,
which readily lapped it up.Archaeologists
unearthed a bone flute in
Isturitz, in Basque lands
just over the French
border, believed to date
back some 25,000 years.
Vocal hero:
Joan Manuel Serrat
In 1968 Catalan singer
Joan Manuel Serrat was
offered the job of singing
Spain’s Eurovision entry,
La, la, la. He asked to
sing it in Catalan
(presumably the ‘la, la,
las’ were unchanged),
was refused and
hurriedly replaced.
Serrat’s songs were duly
banned and he was later
exiled. In 1995 the
Spanish government
gave him a medal for
contributions to Hispanic
culture, while his song
Mediterráneo(1971)
was one of 20thcentury
Spain’s best-sellers.
Just to cap it all, he can
rest each night in the
knowledge that Penélope
Cruz was named after his
songPenélope.