The one in Ziburu is one of the few fairs in the Basque Country that is held entirely in Basque. The Baltsan association, which relates to publishers to organize the fair, ensures that books, comics, records, games, etc. that will be exposed at the tables be entirely in Basque. In fact, the fair is the “only day in Basque” that Ziburu has. This has been said by Ladix Arrosagara,member of the Baltsan association, who is working intensively on the preparation of the fair. The main objective of this fair is for the Basque Country to win a place in diglosic Basque Country: “By moving the productions in Basque to the plaza we propose to the people who live one day in a Basque country. Because at all times we have to claim our rights, we are in uncomfortable and hard situations. We are fed up with people always having to justify why we do so in Euskera, and that our word is always forced to translate it into the language of the oppressor, so that we can build Euskal Herria Euskaldun with tranquility and naturalness. Who does not know Basque feels rejected? For he knows one day what we suffer all year round!” In order to guarantee the possibility of working in full in Basque in the plaza, the Baltsan association has agreed with the four local accommodations that the staff to be served that day and the music to be installed will be Euskaldun.

The rest of the days, as in most of the towns of Euskal Herria, “In Ziburu still returns his head if you notice that someone is on the street speaking Basque,” says Arrosagarai. Although he was a very Basque people, he explains that 60-70 years ago he suffered a significant decrease, and that today those who know Euskera are about 11%. They try to regain their language. “There are people who are at AEK and we wanted to propose a day to live in Basque.” Education is the main driving force behind Euskaldunization, and data from last year indicate that two out of three children in Ziburu are in a bilingual or immersive system. Add-on: “It’s a lot, but it’s known that bilingual classrooms don’t get Euskalduniza.” The fair wants to be a bridge with those who are learning Euskera but are far from euskaldunize: “These people are far from the Basque world, bringing children to bilingual classrooms so that they may know Euskera once, but not so that they may live in Euskera, and we want to teach them what is done in Euskera for all ages and in all genders.” The Baltsan association did a specific job last year to attract the Castilian and Spanish families that bring children to bilingual schools: they contacted all the schools in the village and were asked to work a Basque song and sing it in the children's exhibition that took place on the day of the fair in Iturri Zaharra. The parents who attended these children met with the open doors of the fair and many sought readings and hearings for their children. After last year’s success, the Old Fountain will welcome the children’s show again.

What differentiates borders unites the Basque Country

“Since the beginning, because the organizers are transborder, we overcome this limitation thanks to the Basque Country,” confirmed Arrosagara-Arrosagara-, whose vocation is to be in Basque and national: “We want it to be national both by the organizers and by publishers and writers, as well as by the public. It will take a little while to get there. At first it is normal that most of the people who come closer are from the North, but last year people came from Navarra, from Gipuzkoa...”. Over the years, this border that divides
Euskal Herria into two is what we have “and we have to make ourselves jump,” Arrosagari claimed. First, it proposes to break down the limits in our minds: “Throughout the day book presentations are made at the fair and it is observed that the publishers try to select Iparralde writers when making proposals for these presentations. All right, the fair is in Iparralde, but it is national, our criteria for presenting a book is the interest of the book, not the origin of the writer.”

Increasing participation

In 2019, the Basque Book and Record Fair of Ziburu was held for the first time to mark the 100th anniversary of ARGIA. Thanks to the friends of this media in Ziburu, the Baltsan and ARGIA partnership started a collaborative relationship to organize this fair.

The first edition left the joy of sharing the day with small but interesting groups of people. Seventeen publishers and 52 meters of tables, in figures. And in the narrow tent back and forth, occasionally streams and occasionally clear. It was a beginning, as simple as it was warm.

Pandemia interrupted the fair for one year and the second edition was held in 2021. The beautiful memory of the first, the street thirst after the closure and the awareness that the Basque country feeds face-to-face among the people, resulted in a strong participation in both the number of publishers and the public. A total of 22 publishers were registered and needed 62 meters to present their samples. Throughout the day people were inside the tent that covered the entire plaza of the table and outside the tent there was a great atmosphere in the plaza.

The number of publishers participating in this third edition has increased again: It is 33 tables of 92 meters.

Conferences of nine writers and Cultural Projections

The fair will remain open from 10:00 to 19:00 hours, although it will close from 13:00 to 15:00 to take strength.
There will be cultural performances all day: Tertulia between the writers Janbattit Dirassar and Amaiur Epher at 10:15, spectacular for the children at 10:30; bertsoBorroka at 12:30, in which will act Miren Artetxe and Igor Elortza and drawing Axpi and ZaldiEguna in the solitary Irish folk at 15:00.

In another tent that will be installed next to the fair there will be book presentations. A total of 9 creators will present works of all colours of the Basque Country: At 11:30 Asel Luzarraga will present the novel Esan gabe doa; at 12:00 Lizar Begoña will present the collection of Gepardo poems; at 15:45 the authors of Arranotxu ZaldiEroa and Sasi Elgeta will speak in Basque Koldo Izagirre, Garluk i Agirre at 30

What do publishers and record companies say?

The comic and editor Dani Fano is in charge of Xabiroi magazine. They were at the first edition of the Ziburu Fair last year, and it says that this year they will also be happy.

In recent years the Basque comic book has lived a good time and Fano says they move well in the fairs: "At least there is a hunger for comic in Basque." It says that in these places a good relationship is created, the papers are signed, they are drawn before the reader... "And the environment is beautiful." This year is happy and hopeful: "Last year we made a good sale and we hope this year is also OK." He says that Ziburu's is a special place for comedians: "They take good care of us. There they are in the organization Adur Larrea and Ladix Arrosagarai, both linked to the world of comics. So let's go to a nice place to Ziburu."

The label Baga-Biga was last year at the Ziburu Trade Show and will be present again this year. Ritxi Aizpuru from the label tells us that last year they did not sell it: "It was a bad experience in this sense, but if the record companies and publishers do not support such initiatives, who will promote them? Culture needs these kinds of initiatives."

As it is known, the sale of CDs has been declining for years, "since 2010 it has sold less," says Aizpuru. Record labels have had to reinvent themselves and in their performance, the biggest task they do today is managing concerts: "The album is above all a presentation card, it is not even covered with the expenses."The sale of music production undergoes difficult times, and in the
sector they are also attentive to "seeing the support towards which the music will be directed". But it's not just the Ziburu fair, with the cutbacks that were made last year at the Durango Fair, Aizpuru explains that the music didn't sell it, "and yet you have to be."

Baltsan has done a special job this year in collaboration with record companies. Last year there were few publishers who attended the fair and this year they have received the assistance of ten labels or autoproducers. "All of them will be together in a fair space so they don't disperse among the publishers," said Arrosagarai. Musicians will be able to sell, in addition to albums, t-shirts, posters and so on, as they are other forms of economic protection for their fans.

Writers, musicians, publishers, discography, members of the Baltsan association, ARGIA workers, all of them will be in Ziburu Square on June 4, to enjoy the day with their body. And you, what plans do you have for that day?

TRIBUTE TO JANBATTIT DIRASMAIZ AND ZUBIBURU ROUND TABLE

The fair is also intended to be a bridge between the generations of old and young writers, so this year’s programme introduces a novelty: Round table "Zubiburu". At 10:15, the writer Janbattit Dirassar Ziburuko will be honoured and will be one of the speakers of the round table that will be held next and will discuss the experience of years. Next to him is Amaiur Epher, a young man from Izpura, who will form a literary circle. Diraszar informs ARGIA: "I appreciate the tribute, but what we have to pay tribute to on 4 June is the Basque. That's the future, what we have to retain."

Janbattit Dirassar was born in Hazparn in 1937 and at 18 he moved to Ziburu when Sud Ouest joined her to work in San Juan de Luz. For many years he has been a journalist for the weekly Herria. The following literary works have been published: In his book Hegiko borda (1995, Elkar) reported memories of childhood, focusing on impossible love in his novel The Pain of the Heart (1997, Elkar), Bele Xuria (2013, Elkar) collects his opinion on different themes of life and the world today.

THE CHILDREN SHOW IN THE OLD FOUNTAIN (EUSKERA)

Maddi Zubeldia is very much preparing a special children's story. Last year it was held for the first time: “Our desire was to bring children from all schools in Ziburu together around an event in Basque. And bring children to the market. To do so, we created the story and the children participated singing a song throughout the story.” In view of last year’s success, the spectacular children’s audience is also ready this year.

Four stations will be addressed this year: “In 2019 we created a musical tale. I wrote the text and Xano Halsouete put him in music. We thought that for this year this story was rewritten and offered with the help of puppets, to make it more visual, as the Basque level is very different among students. The performance will be carried out by Bernadette Lur and the children will participate singing the song they have worked at school.”

Mother Earth is going through the four seasons, the story thread needs a pause and the electronic music created by Halsouete for this is the soundtrack that will be heard until the story is told. The songs that children will offer through the accordion and guitar are related to the four seasons, well known in the Basque Ministry.

From the beginning, Zubeldia has made it clear that the children’s show should be done in the plaza de la Fuente Vieja: “For cilantros it’s a very magical place that doesn’t get enough juice. It is ideal for the view, it is a corner near the plaza, has personality and sounds good. It's a meeting place around the source. And symbolically it means that we have to continue to drink from the same source, from the old source, and therefore it is a good place for the challenge we have in the transmission of the Basque Country”.

JOANES ETXEBERRI: FIRST WRITER OF ZIBURU AND BERTSOLARI AÑEJO DEL RENAISSANCE VASCO

On May 4, the Baltsan Association, the editorial Mayo-ARGIA organized a conference. In the first half of the 17th century, Céline Mounole explained the work of Joanes Etxeberri, who collaborated with the writers Axular and Argaiñaratz in the Basque literary renaissance: “Today’s talk aims to make it known, as it is very popular. It would be either a street, a plaza or a good auditorium with the name of Joanes Etxeberri,” he proposed at the Casa Consistorial in front of the 30 listeners he heard. It is necessary to know Euskaltzale, who led the Basque “over the Spanish”.

The investigator provided limited data on Etxeberri: “1580. It looks like he was born around 1638. She was a rich family, studied in the Jesuits and a PhD in Theology. We know that their letters existed, but the only ones that have come so far are their three books: Devotional manual (1627), Noelas and other new spiritual songs (1630) and book of use of the Church (second edition 1665)".

Mounol explained that in the context of the counterform and promoted by the church, the abundant production of books of the Basque Renaissance in Sara, Lapurdi and San Juan de Luz flourished, but that there was also a linguistic conflict at that time and Basque writers called for the protection of the powerful inhabitants of the church and the people in the entries of the books to protect them from the attacks they could receive.

Mounol read several passages from the book Devotionary Manual, written entirely in verse. Etxeberri, who intended to move the reader and get into the imprint of faith, wrote chanting verses for each concrete situation in everyday life. "But it's not just making simple sentences, it uses multiple images, they're texts of great rhetoric." For fishermen, he wrote a lot of the work. The whale hunt was strong at that time in Ziburu, and for them he wrote his verses:

Sir, with wood
more than we have, we have wounded
the Whale
with the bruise.
Please do us the
grace (Jaun Puxanta), the
great Sea of
Frequent Fish.
Without
hurting any crane with its force, in the
Segadas with
tail or chest.
Or without flying the boat
beyond the kilo,
or without carrying it water abajo.Por please, look at all these diseases
so we thank
you to come back with tierra.La victory is great, the





perila is also great, Look at life in
principle.

Here you can see the whole conference chronicle.