About 40 people have gathered to enjoy the last session of the cycle organized jointly by the Basque Association Larraina and the City Hall of Zumaia. At first glance, the listener may think that this is a colloquium between three creators who are not very closely related to each other, and he is not mistaken because neither the locality nor the musical style unite: the Alavese rapper, the rock singer labortano and the Guipuzkoan who moves in the Indian world. As for the relationship between Euskera and music, their experiences are very different, as well as the reasons for the elections adopted.

The cestón Amancay Gaztañaga works in Spanish as a singer of the Grays group, although as a creator he works in various disciplines. Born in Ecuador, his mother tongue is Spanish and studied violin in the same language. Despite being a group of a Basque people, the type of music they had in their heads had no voice in Euskera and began to play the first chords through external references: “We started creating in Spanish because we didn’t know English, because the music we wanted to make was made in those languages.” It is necessary to go back 18 years to set the time, when there was not as much diversity of productions in Basque as now.

Jurgi Ekiza line up in favor of the Basque when he confirms that, as a result of a concert by Negu Gorriak, he also wanted to be a musician. Although the singer and guitarist of the group Willis Drummond grew up in Euskera, the disuse and the teaching in French distanced him from his relationship with the Basque Country, until he signed up for AEK at 17 years old. He understood music as an exercise of “approximation to the Basque”, and says it is also today, although the difference between the different types of listeners is increasing, in his opinion: “The concerts of Negu Gorriak 20 years ago were attended by people who did not know Euskera. Now it can also happen, but I would say that the listeners that we are talking about today in Euskera are only Euskaldunes: I would say that the division of the community is greater.”

Uxue Iturrate is the youngest of the three, and the last to get into the board. Known as Ningra, he's a rapper. Despite the fact that moderator Julen Aperribai presented him as an artist “from the rap world and from Vitoria”, Ningra highlighted that he is from Bitoriano, from a small Algerian town. It is an important factor, as it has recognized that militancy and education in Basque have influenced its creative process, despite being speaking in Spanish both with the people and with the others. “I believe in Basque, by conscious choice.”

In this sense, the moderator has referred to journalists and critics who strive to pursue the reason of being in Basque, asking whether it is a conscious option or not. Ekiza and Ningra are clear that it is a political decision to make music in Euskera, since in view of Iparralde’s sociolinguistic situation, the musicians of Willis Drummond present themselves with the argument “if we do not, who will?”. In the same line follows Iturrate, which in view of the production of hip-hop currently in Euskera and the demand for referents, states that it is not possible to speak of “natural trends”, as it is a conscious option to approach from the Basque era the new styles that are being created in Euskal Herria. “In the face of a more Basque country, the most beautiful thing would be to have a natural choice, but that is not the situation,” says the raplari.

Gaztañaga has pointed out that the same stone is usually laid on the groups that are made in Spanish and that it is becoming more and more common to find groups that speak more of a language on the Basque agenda. “It’s a sign that’s changing things. People do it naturally.” Thus, he says that the tendencies that are accepted with language in other disciplines are “unthinkable” in music, such as the premiere of a theater play in two languages. It emphasizes that in these cases there is no choice and that there are no decreases: “A work created in Spanish can be awarded as the best work in Euskera and no one is altered.”

For whom to create it

Some musicians aim to sing in Basque and Spanish with the intention of having an echo or a place in the external market, making a gesture to a more saturated and distant home audience. After them, Ekiza states that the audience he wants to achieve is a listener from outside Euskal Herria, not a local community in Spanish. For the creator who wants to make popular music he considers it a legitimate behavior, but he is concerned that there will not increase the cracks between the two blocks of society, between those who know Euskera and those who do not know it. However, he is convinced that Euskera is “attractive” to listeners, both here and there, as the “peculiarities” arouse the interest of the people. “The few international tours with Willis Drummond have confirmed to me that people like to hear music in Euskera because it is located outside the hegemonic languages or because it attracts them, they can be both.”

Reference has also been made to the Berri Txarrak phenomenon. Three artists applauded the success achieved by the Navarro group and rejected the criticism that the group received on the path of professionalization, although Ningra has clarified the theme: “What body did they get from? From what position? Hardly mentioned, but I have doubts whether they were not men.” However, everyone has agreed that the marketing channel is undeniable to be able to live from music. “The creators do not live in the air breathed in and it is unfortunate that every step we have taken with the aim of professionalizing it is put in the fokupa,” says Gaztañaga. It strongly criticises that cultural policy is a lack of guilt in the face of the founders of the situation and that weight must be taken away from individuals.

Ningra starts to feel the clay of precariousness when she has just pulled out her first song. It says that the lack of policy is obvious and that the subsidy system only increases competition between musicians. All three have highlighted the need to professionalize creation and COVID-19 has highlighted the need for a proper circuit. “We need professional rooms, a common agenda. Now, for example, because we don’t have concerts, we don’t raise enough, and the aids don’t arrive,” Gaztañaga explains.

Need for benchmarks

Ningra has pointed out the need to create new ones in the face of the shortage of references, especially in urban musical styles: “It’s normal for young people to listen to music in Spanish. Almost two out of a hundred artists created in Euskera. They don’t know us.” Gaztañaga considers that at present it is very important to have more creative women for young people who have just tried in the premises, otherwise there is no “to grab”, as it can be an activity without a compass. Likewise, the raplari does not believe that the Basque Country is a limit to creating beautiful things at a certain pace, nor that the current letters are less aware. “We are now singing about today’s concerns. It was another situation 20 years ago, no more aware than the current one. As things have changed, the letters have also changed, but I think the compromise is the same.”

Ekiza also believes that nowadays people “give a lot of weight” to the meanings of the lyrics and that proof of this is the success that have had genres such as rap in Euskera: “The rise in the level of Euskera has also begun to increase these types of styles. Perhaps society used to find it harder to understand these letters, but as more and more people have been alphabetized in Basque, these kinds of melodies have made us more attractive.”