“Without being a follower of Oskorri, I take Oskorri in my house.” It is the words of Imanol Epelde Etxepare Rap, but perhaps many Euskaldunes – young and not so young – can take their place. Since its birth in 1972, Oskorri has been one of the most referential groups for more than one generation, after a total of 3,000 concerts and a legacy of about 500 songs.

Maite Arroitajauregi Mursego is the childhood in the head when he talks about Oskorri, although the trail he has left is still noticeable today: “The songs I have so present in my memory – This is weakness or Aita San Migel – will have some influence on me and my music.” Xabi Ubeda Baxiri, guitarist of Jupiter Jon, is the first to appear, along with the voice of Anton Latxa, the cover of Oskorri's first albums. However, he believes that they have not influenced him musically: “Ours is another roll: it has more to do with punk and other things.”

Why has Oskorri decided to dissolve? The members of the group refused to make statements, as they agreed before the start of the last tour. It is possible to speak with a time perspective, but what Natxo de Felipe said in the interview held in Berria in 2013 is significant: “We are not ready to end. The situation is about to end us.”

Policies and controversies

Oskorri’s trajectory has had a controversial moment. After knowing the censorship of singing in Basque, they became called “Spanish”. Even those who were published in the aforementioned interview raised controversy, since in Euskal Herria the group's best known face said that "the boundary between ideological criticism and the attack was very diffuse".

Asked if current politics conditions the musician, Ubeda explained that the group has experienced "quite surreal" situations, as it has happened. From his humor he has reported that in one of his concerts some young people entered with a banner in which they denounced that they were "treasurer and capitalist". However, Epeld believes that nowadays everything is left “more open”: “The social claim has blurred a lot in the letters and in the creator; the ambiguous look has prevailed in the description and denunciation of what we are.”

Arroitajauregi has clarified that there are many ways of doing politics that are materialized in small decisions: “Record publishing mode, price, live broadcast energy, commitment to work…”. Through these small decisions, Mursego gives political meaning to his activity.

Is there any transmission?

Oskorri has been given a special ability to recreate tradition. According to Arroitajauregi, “the punk rock groups will be stylistically, but I don’t know if there is a group that has so well united tradition with modernity. I have read it to Ibon Rodriguez and I completely agree: Oskorri’s reclaimed old songs and did them intentionally, giving contemporary words to old songs and new melodies to old texts.” Although it is not a regular activity, the transmission work carried out through the music of old texts or songs is considered very interesting.

Epelde sees similarities with Oskorri in his creation: “Oskorri has a album with letters by Bernart Etxepare [Mosen Bernart Etxepare 1545, 1977] and has made a great effort to bring tradition to our day. I have also worked on it, with one difference: rather than basing myself on folk, based on rap and electronic music.” In his opinion, there are those who have taken the witness of “the old words and the air restarting the melody”, but see the problem in the reach. “What is not in youth, how do we get there?”

Ubeda sees that groups of young generations will have more difficulty reconciling ages and audiences, as some of the current references – Benito Lertxundi and Mikel Laboa – have achieved. “But who knows?”

“A terrible lie”

Natxo de Felipe stated in Berria that “the subject of Basque culture is a terrible lie”, referring to the poor conditions experienced by many Basque creators. In a similar vein, Arroitajauregi believes that the Basque culture is “stuck”: “It does not advance; we have to move forward without forgetting what we are and taking care of the heritage we have, and I do not know if the institutions are willing to do so”.

“We have to interpret the world today from our own. It is essential to open the doors while keeping what we are,” says Epelde. To do so, he believes that it is necessary to open spaces for experimentation to investigate. Because without dissemination, research and transmission, creation is “caught up”, especially in a culture like the Basque one.

With the choice of living from creation, Epelde states that, despite having done the best work possible, he will never be a creator “as comfortable as a teacher”. He believes that his eagerness to create people living in the future is limited.

This is the farewell.

“As far as I know, Oskorri has said they leave, but not why. Who has come to them to ask them what has happened, why are they going to leave their 40 years of career?” Epeld asked. He has criticized that creation is entrusted to the will of individuals, although it should be “fed and pampered” so that culture continues to feed the people.

Mursego also asks: “Why have we not been able to keep Oskorri?” he explained that although times have changed, there have been more places to listen to live music and that in Donostia, for example, every weekend there are a dozen concerts. However, he has denounced that he is going to the concerts, rather than listening to music, to say that they were there the next day. “Programming Oskorri is expensive, right? Maybe we should be more militant. Culture is not a hobby, it is an effort, it makes us people, from every place. If culture defines us, we should take better care of it.”

At least for Oskorri it seems to be late. The farewell tour carried out under the name of Hauxe gives farewell ends on 22 November in the Arriaga de Bilbao.