There are times that we come across things that just simply delight us, and the second edition of the “Batura Zikloa” is one of them.
Logo of the second edition of the “Batura Zikloa”
As we explained when bringing you the news of the first edition in 2020, its promoter, musician, teacher, researcher, and disseminator Josu Okiñena (who we referenced in an article on Maurice Ravel’s “Basqueness”), this series seeks to explore the different musical and even personal relationships of several Basque artists with foreign artists, “Especially those back-and-forth trips that took place in Basque music over the centuries all over the world.”
This idea is by itself truly interesting, as the public’s reception to it showed. But this year offers a variation that really called our attention back to it even more: special attention is going to be paid to the musical creations of the Basques of the diaspora.
Tomas Mugica Gaztañaga, a composer of the diaspora, two of whose works will be played in the first concert in this series
This series of concerts seeks to “rescue and highlight the value of” the music of composers such as Olazaran de Estella, Mugica, Tosar, Madina, and Zubeldia, among others, which was composed and then forgotten in the Basque diaspora over the decades, and rescued by Okiñena from different archives in the Old and New Worlds. “The goal of the second festival is to present compositions from composers of the diaspora, outside the territories where Basque culture has historically settled,” adds the Basque musician. It’s not for nothing that this will be the first time many of these compositions will be played in the Basque Country.
We thought it was so interesting, so enthralling, that we’ve asked Josu Okiñena, who, as we said, researched this part of our cultural heritage that had gone “missing” and then organized the event, to present it to us.
The first concert in this series will be on Sunday, November 21 at 7:00 pm at the Club Room of the Victoria Eugenia Theater in San Sebastian.
In this recital, guitarristRafael Aguirre will, for the first time, play two pieces by Basque composer Tomás Múgica.
Program: A. García Abril, J. Tomás Múgica, Sabicas, Esteban de Sanlúcar, F. Tárrega, A. Piazzolla
