The Basque language is unrelated to any other language family and its origins are unknown. Trikitixa is the most widespread and well-known form of Basque folk music, though there are also singer-songwriter and choir traditions. France has long been considered a centre for European art and music. ... For many people, Spanish music is virtually synonymous with flamenco, an Andalusian genre of music. ... The alboka is a double clarinet coming from the Basque region of Northern Spain. ... The trikitixa or eskusoinu (hand sound) is a two-row Basque diatonic button accordion, with right-hand rows keyed a fifth apart and twelve unisonoric bass buttons. ... Basque (native name: Euskara) is the language spoken by the Basque people who inhabit the Pyrenees in North-Central Spain and the adjoining region of South-Western France. ... The trikitixa or eskusoinu (hand sound) is a two-row Basque diatonic button accordion, with right-hand rows keyed a fifth apart and twelve unisonoric bass buttons. ... The term singer-songwriter refers to performers who both write and sing their own material. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

Euskadi, or Basque Country, is home to a lively style of folk music called trikitixa, based on a diatonic accordion and tambourine. Kepa Junkera and Joseba Tapia are probably the most famous performers of trikitrixa accordion. There has been influences of Tejano artists like Flaco Jiménez. Kepa Junkera (born 1965 in Bilbao, Euskadi) is a Basque musician and composer. ... Tejano[1] (Spanish for Texan) or Tex-Mex[2] music is the name given to various forms of folk and popular music originating among the Hispanic-descended Tejanos of Central and South Texas. ... Flaco Jimenez Flaco Jiménez (born March 11, 1939) is a Tejano musician from San Antonio, Texas. ...

Other Basque instruments are alboka, a difficult double clarinet played in circular breathing technique as Sardinian launeddas, the txalaparta wooden xylophone played by two players and txistu (a local tabor pipe). The alboka is a double clarinet coming from the Basque region of Northern Spain. ... The launeddas, triple clarinet or triplepipe is a typical Sardinian woodwind instrument, consisting of three pipes. ... The txalaparta is a specialized Basque device of wood or stone. ... Pipe describes a number of musical instruments, historically referring to perforated wind instruments. ...

There is also a tradition of choral music, like the Orfeón Donostiarra and Mocedades. This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Mocedades performing at the Eurovision Song Contest 1973 Mocedades were a Spanish Basque singing sextet, which represented Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1973 with the song Eres Tu. ...

Basque artists singing in Spanish have a wider market sometimes reaching Spanish America, examples are Luis Mariano, Ainhoa, La Oreja de Van Gogh and Duncan Dhu. The French Basques have produced their own stars, including the choir Oldarra from Biarritz and the operatic singer Benat Achiary. Luis Mariano (1914-1970) was a famous Basque operetta singer, actor and TV performer. ... Ainhoa is a commune in Labourd, in the Pyrénées_Atlantiques département in France. ... La Oreja de Van Gogh (Spanish: Van Goghs Ear) is a Latin Grammy winner Spanish pop band from Donostia-San Sebastian. ... Duncan Dhu is a Spanish group created in San Sebastián in 1984. ... Biarritz (French: Biarritz, pronounced ; Gascon Occitan: Biàrritz; Basque: Miarritze) is a town and commune which lies on the Bay of Biscay, on the Atlantic coast, in southwestern France. ... Benat Achiary, basque vocal improviser who lives in southern france, has released three songs from lucas heros-limite on his cd seven circles for peter, released by german label FMP in 2004. ...

Other Basque artists singing in Basque include Anari (musician), Oskorri, Negu Gorriak, Benito Lertxundi, Mikel Laboa, Fermin Muguruza and Azala. Anari (Ana Rita Alberdi) (born in 1970 in Azkoitia, Guipúzcoa) is a Basque singer/songwriter. ... Negu Gorriak (basque for Red Winters or Harsh Winters) is an underground European rock group. ... Mikel Laboa (born 1934) is a singer and songwriter from Pasaia, Basque Country. ... Fermin Muguruza (Irún, Guipúzcoa, Spain) is a Basque nationalist rock musician, singer, songwriter, producer and disc label manager. ...

Txistu

Txistu is a kind of recorder that became a symbol for the Basque folk revival. This three-holed recorder can be played with one hand, leaving the other one free to play a percussion instrument. In the 18th century, the txistu was adopted by the Count of Peñaflorida and his Basque Illustration cultural revival, and became a part of Basque aspirations for the nobility. The instrument was modified to give it a range of two octaves and a larger version called the silbote was created to accompany polyphonic compositions. Various recorders The recorder is a woodwind musical instrument of the family known as fipple flutes or internal duct flutes—whistle-like instruments which include the tin whistle and ocarina. ... A percussion instrument can be any object which produces a sound by being struck with an implement, shaken, rubbed, scraped, or by any other action which sets the object into vibration. ... (17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. ... In music, an octave (sometimes abbreviated 8ve or 8va) is the interval between one musical note and another with half or double the frequency. ... Polyphony is a musical texture consisting of two or more independent melodic voices, as opposed to music with just one voice (monophony) or music with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords (homophony). ...

Rural txistu musicians continued their own traditions, while the urban txistularis formed schools to teach the instrument. Listen to Lady Smith Black mombaso...

The oldest txistu melodies are characterized by a Mixolydian mode in G, which is the same as the seventh mode in Gregorian chanting. More recently-composed songs are still in G major, but in either natural or sharp F or, more rarely, C. There are exceptions, however, in major F melodies with natural B. Look up melody in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The Mixolydian mode is a musical mode or diatonic scale. ... Gregorian chant is also known as plainchant or plainsong, and is a form of monophonic, unaccompanied singing, which was developed in the Catholic church, mainly during the period 800-1000. ...

The Association of Txistularies in the Basque Country was formed in 1927 to promote txistularis. The organization has continued its activities to the present, except for an interruption during the Francisco Franco dictatorship. 1927 (MCMXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar). ... Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco Bahamonde (4 December 1892–20th (or possibly 19th) November[1] 1975), commonly abbreviated to Francisco Franco (pron. ...

Samples

• Download recording of "Lili bat ikhusi dut", a Basque-American folk song from the Library of Congress' California Gold: Northern California Folk Music from the Thirties Collection; performed by Francisco and Matias Etcheverry on September 11, 1940 in Fresno, California
• Santa Agueda, traditional a capella song . (help· info)

Image File history File links Santa_Águeda. ...

Further reading

• Khteian-Keeton, Teddy (1994). Guide to Basque Music. Idaho Arts Archives & Research Center Filer P. ISBN 0-9675042-0-1. 
• Martija, José Antonio Aran (1985). Basque Music. Basque Government. ISBN 84-7568-071-2. 

External links

• Basque Music and Art (Buber's Basque Page)