45 f
Kepa with Sorginak
down trikitixa sound: it’s only trikitixa and tambourine. Starting from here, the girls play, sing, dance, and we created this show.”
M
Junkera’s latest collaboration with an international artist was the show with the Argentine chamamé musician and accordeon player Horacio ‘Chango’ Spasiuk, which was presented last year at the Fira Mediterrània in Manresa (Spain).
“The show is about joining traditions : chamamé, from the north east of Argentina with the Basque music of the trikitixa. A broad stream of influences can be heard alongside these two cul- tures. Chango’s grandparents from both sides have Ukrainian roots, so Polish, Russian and German, music converge in the chamamé. It was a challenge to create this show because we only had a few days to rehearse, so we had to improvise a lot but it worked out very well. The show is titled Mar De Fuelles which literally means, ‘Sea of Bel- lows’, referring to the Atlantic Ocean, which divides and connects us, and the bellows inside the accordeon.”
What is the connection between the music from Basque Country and Argentina?
“Many Basque people emigrated to Argentina, so in the chamamé you can also recognise Basque roots. Basque people and Argentinians have a lot in common, for instance the colonial past. At the same time, there are differences that make meetings like this fresh and exciting. The trikitixa has two buttons, like a harmonica and can produce two sounds, depending on whether or not you open or close the bellows. You can compare the accordeon of Chango Spasiuk with a keyboard. It’s for me very challenging to explore musical styles like the forró from Brazil, the chamamé, the Colombian vallenato or the merengue. All these styles have things in common and differ as well. In these days of broken frontiers and borders, the music is abso- lutely open and free. So we are all siblings.”
Asked about his mission to promote Basque music he replies that “Basque music is beautiful and has a lot of interesting elements. I have always wanted to export it by crossing musical borders and sharing it with other people. If you call me an ambassador of Basque music, I’m not so sure if that’s true. I never really think about it. What I’m interested in is the joy of playing, making good projects and stay- ing motivated. I always have great respect for where I came from. My mother, my grandfather, my environment,they are always with me. For me it’s a big honour to bring Basque music to new places. Thanks to this simple and modest instrument I am what I am right now. I’m very thankful for the chances I got.”
What inspires him after all those years?
“I make music to share it with everyone. I have been playing for 35 years or even more, I have recorded quite a few discs with my own compositions, but I have to go on. After all these years it still feels a little like the first day. I always have the illusion that people are famil- iar with my projects and listen to my music but of course not every- body knows me. I love to discover new music, new groups, new gas- tronomies and new territories. It’s in my blood, I’m very curious.”
kepajunkera.com F
aletak sees him nurturing the next generation in the form of Sorginak, underscoring the enduring vitality of Basque traditional music. “It’s a pedagogical pro- ject too. I teach the Sorginak musicians as well. They are really young people, and I work in a stripped
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