How did Urmuga emerge and for what purpose? In 2018
we also carried out the Oxygen to Basque initiative in 6,000 meters. Twelve young people and twelve young sherpas from Euskal Herria met in Nepal and we climbed two mountains of 6,000 meters and took a 24-day circular tour around Everest. To raise funds to carry out the project, we organized a concert in the parish of Oñati. The concert program was carried out by conductor Miguel Zeberio, who told me: “Next time we have to make an initiative that takes music and the mountain.”

I pointed on a paper what he had said and, being on the border between Tibet and Nepal, I saw the note. The height and the mountain influence the head, and although it can sometimes turn out to be counterproductive, my arrival increases and there I had the idea of Urmuga. There is the Himalayas, a water limit. What is a water limit? An edge, a thread that in our case crosses Euskal Herria from west to east, from the port of Angulo to the summit of the Bureau of the Three Kings.

In this sense, I developed the idea: in nineteen days we would make the water border on foot and organize concerts in the towns around, with mountaineering and music, united by culture and the people. On Christmas 2019 I presented my intention to some friends and in that winter we started organizing the first Urmuga.

The pandemic would catch you in the momento.Decidimos go ahead with the project when we
were still in lockdown. By the month of May we had a lot of work done, we didn't know we did concerts and we could gather people. The problem was on the one hand, but on the other hand, given that little was organised that summer, we were opened with many doors.

In 2020 we had the pandemic and this year we had floods, electoral floods. We have had many doors to organise the Urmuga: from municipalities, from parliamentarians, from the Basque Government… All of them have been very busy preparing the elections, and now there are other elections. It was a bad pandemic, but not so bad. This electoral flood is doing us more harm.

What will be the Urmuga route of this year?The
edge of the water limit is always the same, although at some points we change from year to year. What told us for the first time about that edge was Luis Pedro Peña Santiago, who collected in a book the maps of the edge. Years later, the bilbaíno mountain group Aldatz Gora renewed maps of the Patxi Galek route. It's the most orthodox water limit.

We follow that line, but we are not so orthodox. I would say that we are heterodox, and we make small traps, because the day is too long to make it complete, because another way is nicer or because we turn to the place where we have been offered a place to sleep. However, we are fairly honest with the water limit.

We left the port of Angulo and walked the most famous mountain ranges and peaks in the Basque Country: The area of Gorbeia, the Duranguesado Mountains, Aizkorri, Aralar… until reaching the Table of the Three Kings. We will pass through the seven countries of the Basque Country. This year’s edition will end in Isaba, as in 2021, and by 30 July we have organised a full day programme.

What musical offer will there be?
On the one hand, we'll have microconfigured, often in deshours and destokes. In mountain summits, as in Txarlazo (980 meters), on 12 July; in hostels, as in the area of Orbaizeta, opposite the refuge of Azpegi, on 25 July; there will also be an offer in unique places such as the former quarry of Aldatu. These microconcerts are especially organized for mountaineers.

However, the most important musical concerts will be the main ones. Varied and varied stylistic offer, the Orchestra Et Incarnatus will be the axis of music and revolve around it soloists, txistularis, trikitilaris… Among others, will act Ibil Bedi, Rucula, Korrontzi and Xutik.

Among the major sessions is the one to be held on 17 July in Araia, opposite the Marutegi village. The Aizpearro concert has become a classic in the Desaomendi area of Aralar. There's a hole that used to be used and a couple of slums 2,000 years ago. It's the perfect room: the orchestra is down there and the audience sitting up. This year we have Aizpearron Eñaut Elorrieta, Alaitz eta Maider, Mikel Urdangarin, Alex Sardui, Olaia Intziarte and Bixente Martinez. The Baigorri concert will be special with the release of the new version of Sasitik Sasira Eltzegor.

Who are you behind the organization?In addition
to family and friends in our environment, agents and citizens of the peoples through which Urmuga passes participate: mountain associations, choirs, music bands... Thanks to this network comes Urmuga. They are the ones who know the village and its surroundings, and they are the ones who best know where the beautiful forests, palaces or meadows are for concerts. Thanks to these people we get, among other things, places to sleep or dinner.

Who participates in Urmuga?There are
two kinds of bathers: those who only attend concerts and those who go on mountain trips. Concerts are held in natural spaces, so you always have to walk a little to reach them. And among those who go hiking there is everything, those who do a single day or spend a week with us.

What values do you want to convey?Urmuga's
main idea is that we are a nation, which has been Euskal Herria, although divided into three administrations. The water frontier, although it is a water distributor, is not a limit of this nation. On the contrary, for us a thread is the edge, and with that thread we want to sew the people with mountaineering and music. North of the water boundary with the south and west with the east. And since that border is not a limit, the borders between the three administrations are not a limit for our country either. Above that lives our community.

Another important characteristic is that culture, in our case music, leads to small forgotten villages. In these times of the great concerts of the cities, Urmuga wants to bring good and special music to the peoples, soaking the peoples of our geography with music created in pop, rock or a string orchestra. Today, the depopulation of small peoples is a serious social problem with other problems, including the loss of Basque identity. Projects such as the TAV will also accelerate these trends. The water limit is aimed at rural villages and serves them and their inhabitants.

The mountaineers and mountaineers will be on foot in Orduña, Otxandio, Araia, Aramaio, Zegama, Aldatz, Orbaizeta, Baigorri and Izaba, and in these villages there will be no lack of music. To bring all this from the assumption to the yes, we have to influence volunteering. Gordejuela, Arburu, Bidart, Zabala, Balanzategui… Behind these surnames are elegant and generous people.

Finally, Urmuga is also a linguistic issue. The Basque language is the language on the axis of the initiative, Urmugak speaks in Basque. However, those who speak other languages are also invited to participate, they will be welcome.