Traditionally, the favorite musical styles of the young and rebels of the valley have been punk, the Oi! And hardcore, but things have changed radically. Today, urban music - rap, trap, drilla and reggaetón - is the style most heard by adolescents and young people, and Debagoiena is experiencing a flourishing of young creators related to these trends. There are now more than 20 young people in the valley who are creating songs and video clips, and according to their perceptions, 65% of the young people in the valley like these new musical styles.

But it's not just a musical style change. This new wave has revolutionized forms of music production, consumption and production. Before, the concerts measured the strength and success of each group, but the musicians of this new stage hardly do concerts. Where appropriate, YouTube visits and the number of Instagram followers are the measure of success. In addition, they only produce discs and publish songs separately, with a careful video clip that is almost always as important as the song itself. Almost all creators are men, and most sing in Spanish only.

Scene without stage

There are creators, there are listeners who like that music, but despite those conditions, you don't see any concert related to those musical styles. Prior to the pandemic, for example, improvised rooster games were held in Bergara between rap rappers, called Bergaratzen.

"We started organizing these kinds of street contests four years ago, when we started being 16 years old. We would open the call on social networks and we would meet in the Espolón people from different peoples. The minimum number of participants was 16 and the jury was composed of three members. Each participant contributed one or two euros and the money raised was the prize of the winner. But we had problems with the municipal police, because we were on the way, and in the face of the threat of economic sanctions, we didn't organize more festivals," says Bergara rap singer Martxel Moral Zetita.

In January 2019, the ArRAPsate festival was held in Arrasate, with the participation of Essence TP and Lo Records, and the strength that this musical style has among the young people was verified, but despite the success of the concert, it did not continue.

-There's a scene. There are a lot of creators, but there's something missing to offer that to the hobby through the concert. In January 2019 we filled up the gaztetxe of Arrasate. But it is true that in recent years concerts have gone down. 10-15 years ago, the concerts were here and there, every Friday, and that has come down considerably. Adding to this is the disruption and slowdown caused by the pandemic, the situation at the moment is much less. And what happened? Well, all of this movement has been absorbed by social media," said video producer Arrasate Asier Elgezua.

"Most creators publish loose songs and very few have enough material to make a record. This way of working also influences the scarcity of concerts. There's a certain frequency that you prefer to publish songs; social networks set the pace, and it's true that concerts are in the background. In addition, looking at the pandemic situation, I think the lack of concerts is normal," says the creator and singer Ur Bruña.

Bergara singer Iker Iriarte HRT believes a rap and trap scene can explode in the calm of the pandemic situation: "There's going to be more and more scenes. With COVID-19, it's very difficult to do concerts, and many are not motivated. At the time of the pandemic we did a concert and were willing to do another one. But we're looking forward to concerts and I'm sure they're going to multiply in the future."

In your case, they're also excited about Oh! and to organize festivals that mix rap styles. "Oh! I think music and rap are compatible. They both serve to be young and rebellious, and I think you can do concerts or festivals that mix those two styles together. Soon, when the pandemic situation calms down, we want to do something like this with No Limits in Bergara’s gaztetxe. They're two hugging worlds.

The arrasatearra Janire Davila Janda states that the "bad fame" of the musical styles mentioned "limits" the possibility of concerts. "In my case, I've been doing two years and I've only done three concerts, because everything is conditioned by the damn COVID-19. The little I have done has been in nightclubs, because my friends artists or producers have put me on the stage as a lobbyist, but it is true that in the town celebrations our music has no place. Trapa, for example, is very much related to reggaeton, and that style generates mistrust as it is considered machista and sexist. In the south of Spain, in Malaga, for example, these prejudices have been overcome and many concerts are held in these types of places. But here ...

The strength of social networks

In this new movement, social networks are strategic to promote, consume, relate and feel and count public support. The case of the singers of Aretxabaleta Ekso and Pxli is very striking. So far, only one song has been published – it is called Warriors – and over 37,000 visits have been gathered on Youtube.

"We didn't expect the song to reach 5,000 viewers, and it's surpassed 30,000 views across the state. It's not just our merit. We have had a very good producer on our side, a friend from Bilbao who is very good at making videos, and because of all that we have made people like it."

But even though people like their song, they're not in a hurry to do concerts. In this sense, when asked about the possibility of choosing one of these two options, they prefer that their next topic have more than 40,000 quotes in their first concert than 150 people.

Hodei Vicario Denso was the producer of this song. Asked about the case of the young people of Aretxabaleta, relativizes the success with the number of visits: "The consumption of audio-visual on social media is 100 times higher than ten years ago. Before, 100,000 visits were an impressive achievement, and now, a ridiculous video of your cat can reach 2,000,000 visits in a few hours. The number of visits is a reference, it is important, but the measure must be taken".

Some say it, because a song he made to an Argentine singer has 3,500,000 views.

Producers and videoauthors

In the formation of rock groups there are essential members: drums, guitar, bass and singer. And in this new movement, in addition to singers, producers, video-authors and other members of this kind are fundamental.

Producer Hodei Vicario is a very important figure to understand the flourishing of the creators of this movement. Create the tracks bases and produce them: "If a singer is given a base, few get all the juice. I give them clues and advice as to the way and rhythm of singing, to make the most of the song." A rookie singer has to pay to get a base, pay to record his voice, mastering... In this sense, the study that Vicario had in Arrasate has been of great help in taking the first steps to many creators who wanted to start: Martin Errasti Tatta, Unai Sierra, Ur Bruña, Alaiur, Mutiko

If the producer is essential, the same applies to video producers. In fact, creators generally publish their songs in video format and work a lot in the quality of the audiovisual. "Images help words arrive more accurately," says HRT. In our valley there are some leading video producers; one of them is the arrasatearra Asier Elgezua, who has made the videos of Essence TP, and the other is Beñat Vicente, from Bergara.

Introduction to Hip-Hop in the valley

The hobby for rap culture is not new in the Alto Deba. In some music groups in the 1990s, the influence was very noticeable, like the Ekon or Anger groups, and they were loose rap singers like Deifus, although they played very little.

At Arrasate’s gaztetxe, for example, four Hip-hop festivities – the last one in 2012 – were held in which, in addition to live rap music, skateboarding, graffiti and break dance exhibitions were combined. "For us, hip-hop culture had three branches: music, graffiti and dance. And in the Hip-Hop festivities, we captured it. They weren't massive festivals, but there was a crowd that liked that culture." In this sense, the music and dance branch has not had a great development in the valley, while graffiti has been the field that has had the greatest continuity.

List of creators of Debagoiena

Next, you can see the videos of the artists clicking on the name.

Rooting:

• Nerea Loron La Furia
• Fran Pedrosa Ixsyiroi
• Iban Martin Talycual
• Janire Davila Janda
• Mikel Retegi Pier
• Unai Sierra
• Oihan Uribarren Fane
• Martin Errasti Tatta
• Ur Bruña
• Alaiur Alcelay Kate

Bergara:

• Iker Hiriarte HRT
• Xady Aiastui K-PO
• Martxel Moral Zetita
• Jon Igartua Blind 09
• Markel Salgado
• Lander Romero Land

Oñati:

• Haritz Olaeta
• Mikel Aranburu
• Julen Lorenzo

Aretxabaleta:

• Mikel Egia and Markel Bengoa Ekso & Pxli

Eskoriatza:

• Gafer

Aramaio:

• Jon Izaga Mutiko