Although this is the third edition, Loraldia is an initiative that has taken on very strong roots in Bilbao at the beginning of spring, year after year. Loraldia is a window to Basque culture from a contemporary point of view and, at the conference concert of Azkuna Zentroa, the city was the protagonist. Thanks to the collaboration between the Meatzaleak and Loraldia program, the writer Lutxo Egia and the singer-songwriter Minel Inunziaga, Inun, presented this city.
The place was perfect. The purpose of the talk concert was to reflect on the transformation of Bilbao, how the titanium flash of the Guggenheim Museum has transformed the city. Azkuna Zentroa, an old alhóndiga with a strong smell of wine, is today a cultural building of design. Has the essence of Bilbao changed with the skin, as in the old alhóndiga? Is Bilbao's identity before and after? These are the doubts raised by Egia and Inun. Is this city?

Noise. Port Tumultos. Then Abbaren Take a chance on me, through Inun's voice and guitar. That's how the attempt began. “The landscape is the eye, but also the ear, and the nose,” is the affirmation of the Lutxo Truth. In the 1990s, the humid factories of the margin of the ria gave way to walks, parks and museums. This changed the appearance of Bilbao. The noises and smells of yesteryear, the smells, disappeared.
In the next hour, Egia reflected on the clash between that missing Bilbao and the utopian Bilbao turned into reality, accompanied by Inun's music. The construction of the Guggenheim Museum, to what extent has it been a rupture in the identity of the city? I didn't answer, I had asked questions. Before was Bilbao more authentic or have we idealized the past? Have we lost ourselves in hypocrisy? “In the simulacro world, cardboard becomes a reality.” The
Basque literature had something to do with the reflection of Egia and Inun. Bilbao is a whirlwind that has attracted many Basque writers, but just as the city has been changing, the point of view of the writers is not the same at some point. Bernardo Atxaga was first cited by Lutxo Egia, the Asteasu Bilbaíno. It was followed by Miren Agur Meabe, Koldo Izagirre, Jon Alonso, Jon Arretxe, Irati Jimenez, Blas de Otero, Itxaro Borda, etc. And of course, Gabriel Aresti. “London da Dickens, Dublin da Joyce, Donostia da Saizarbitoria. Aresti is Bilbao,” said Egia.
Meanwhile, Inune sang fragments of songs that have Bilbao as the stage or protagonist. And San Sebastian. Because Bilbao is all that is not Donostia, and San Sebastian is all that is not Bilbao. Or not? Inune surprised all listeners with a rap song dedicated to San Sebastian. The music was based on the March of San Sebastian de Sarriegi.More than certainty, Egia and Inune showed their
doubts for each listener to reflect. Basque writers moved from factories to museums, from Abandoibarra to San Francisco, from working-class neighborhoods to gentrification, from the vanguard to exclusion. Is there tension between two Bilbao? Bilbao is unique, but it is composed of layers, according to the Truth. “There is nothing more true than the fake Bilbao.” After all, it is also this city.