43 f Triki Business
Kepa Junkera does big projects, but at the heart of them is always his mastery of traditional Basque accordeon. Bas Springer traces Kepa’s career.
instrument that he learned how to play on his own. This enthusiastic and energet- ic ambassador for Basque music has recorded 24 albums (including collabora- tions), worked together with The Chief- tains and the Italian accordeon player Ric- cardo Tesi and won the Latin Grammy Award for Best Folk album in 2004. Last year Junkera celebrated his 35th anniver- sary as a professional musician but there was hardly any time to look back at his impressive career because the restless and super energetic Junkera is always busy with new projects.
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In Basque Country the trikitixa or triki- ti has been the most popular instrument for more than 150 years. This two-row
epa Junkera is the undisputed maestro of the trikitixa, the diatonic Basque accordeon. As a child he was already so fas- cinated by the sound of this
Basque diatonic button accordeon was probably introduced by French or Italian immigrants coming from the Alps late in the 19th Century. The word ‘trikitixa’ origi- nally referred to an instrumental group made up of traditional Basque instruments like txistus, alboka and the accordeon. Now it refers as much to the instrument itself as to the ensemble.
The diatonic button accordeon was developed in Vienna in 1829 and soon became very popular all over Europe. Thanks to its happy and festive sounds the trikitixa, along with the pandero (tam- bourine), could be heard at local and popu- lar festivities in the Basque Country, where the young enjoyed themselves with danc- ing. In doing so they ignored the position of the Catholic Church, who dubbed the triki- tixa ‘hell’s bellows’ since this lively music excited people to dance and would presum- ably lead Basque youth into temptation.
Kepa Junkera, born in 1965 in Bilbao, started playing the trixitixa at a very early age. Blessed with oodles of talent he devel- oped his own unique style, making him one of the most famous musicians of the Basque Country. But how did it all start?
“My first contact with music would come from my maternal grandfather who, in the times of the pilgrimages, would accompany my mother with the tambourine while she took her first dancing steps with Txilibrin. The first instrument I took interest in was the trikitixa, which I learnt by myself, starting at the age of ten or eleven years. I’m a autodidact, I never had a conventional teacher who told me how to play a song. I learned everything by playing, composing songs and producing albums. I had some teachers, but not in a standard way. I went to different kinds of schools: the school of projects, experiences, everyday life and the street. Those were my teachers.”
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