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nawan singer, composer and sanshin play- er Mutsumi Aragaki and our house hosted her visits to rehearse with Mikel for the two main Basque Night events at the end of May: one in the north of the island at Ginoza Farm Lab café overlooking the Pacific Ocean, the other at the prestigious Sakurazaka Theatre. Aragaki is an innova- tive and exciting sanshin player. Currently working on her own solo album, she has collaborated with the likes of Malian kora player Mamadou Doumbia.
For the first of these events the focus was on Basque culture and cuisine as well as the music. The spacious Ginoza café has a spectacular view of the ocean and opened its doors for the first time just days before Mikel’s visit. Mikel himself super- vised the preparation of Basque-style pin- txos. Tickets sold out two days in advance. Before the music there was a half-hour talk session on identity and culture in which Mikel spoke with the Okinawa- based Swiss-Spanish photographer and film director Daniel Lopez.
The Sakurazaka Theatre concert a few days later was also sold out, with Mikel playing a solo set of his own compositions before being joined by Mutsumi Aragaki again on sanshin and vocals and Makoto Miyata on percussion. Aragaki’s sanshin and Mikel’s acoustic guitar flowed togeth- er in a seductive blend as if they had played together for years. The trio soon became what Mikel called his Okinawan band. They played arrangements of his original songs plus three songs from the Ryukyu Islands that Mikel had learned during his
stay. Particularly successful was Tsuki Nu Kaisha, a traditional song from the Yaeya- ma Islands for which Mikel added a new verse in Basque. The encore was a first-ever live performance of the well-known Oki- nawan song Tinsagu Nu Hana.
Audiences were clearly won over not just by his passionate but controlled singing but crucially by his willingness to engage with Okinawan music, people and culture and to share his own thoughts, feelings and stories from the Basque Country.
eflecting on their collabora- tion a few weeks later, Araga- ki told me: “This wonderful encounter had a great impact on me and I realised again the unique roots of Okinawa. It has opened my mind and lifted me higher. Our music resonated much more than I expected to create a fascinating new sound that cross- es borders. I’m also very attracted to Mikel’s music and to Basque music and culture in general. I’d love to develop this project and hope we can keep on inspir- ing each other.”
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Mikel also appeared with Aragaki at a beach bar in the north and played a solo set, on what he said was the smallest stage he had ever stood on, at the annual Ajiru Music Festival held in the grounds of a Shinto shrine. There was a newspaper interview and a final Sayonara Party at a Naha bar where Mikel’s trio played an impromptu set. The Margolaria film is now complete and will be in competition at the San Sebastian Film Festival in September.
Financial support permitting, it’s hoped this could be just the start of the Basque Ryukyu live experiences. Ideally the next step would be for Okinawan musicians to travel to the Basque Country and for bigger collaborations between Basque and Ryukyu folk musicians in Okinawa to showcase some of the more traditional styles.
Mikel Urdangarin should have the last word: “I thought I was living in another era, a few centuries ago, when I first found myself listening to an old Okinawan song. Nowadays, this era of expansion and glob- alisation, in which everything tends to unify and the different is penalised, is a time in which we can hardly hear and identify our own voice. Yet treasures can still be found, such as the unique and antique culture expressed in the music from Okinawa. This is the main gift, the unforgettable experience I was given in my stay on that old island.”
“My gratitude goes out to Mutsumi Aragaki and all the nice people that accom- panied me on that intense journey. It’s two months since I returned and I can still hear the sanshin notes in my head, the purity of the islanders singing. How an old and high- pitched singing is so close to roots, to the underworld, it’s a stunning feeling that will never disappear in my future life.”
Many thanks to all who helped with this project, especially Anjel Valdes, Ryuji Noda, Tomoya Ogoshi, and Daniel Lopez.
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