Astero
Txalaparta Plus
Once or twice a year the Autonomous Basque Government of Euskadi sponsors a cultural tour to provide our communities an opportunity to experience some of the latest work of Basque entertainers. In Dec. 2007 the Basque txalaparta and duo of Iñaki Plaza & Ion Garmendia gave us quite a show.
Basque-Americans & our non-Basque friends from coast-to-coast had an opportunity to take in the music of the Basque txalapartak as played by some of the best around! Thanks to funding from the Basque Government, and the elkarlan ("working together") of several Basque communities Iñaki Plaza and Ion Garmendia presented a multi-faceted show of Basque musical instruments. Between them they played the txalaparta, trikitixa, tambourine, txistu, alboka and king size PVC pipe (yes that's right). They put on quite a show!
Unfortunately, their tour was cut in half because of illness so they were only able to perform in Boise, Chino and Washington D.C. But to keep things flying, we need the support and assistance of others--volunteers from Basque communities that join the ELKARLAN ("Working together"). The aim is to move these groups around to allow people the chance to experience something new in the world of Basque music. Ion & Inaki took a traditional foundation of musical instruments and then developed some new directions.
The txalaparta is played by two musicians. Each player holds a striker in either hand in the upright position and uses them to strike different parts of the board (placed horizontally and insulated so as not to lose resonance). The music is created by both players working in unison. Depending on the town or region, each of the has a special name: "ttakuna" or "tukutuna" for one of the musicians, and "herrena" or "urguna" for the other).
This duo went beyond just the txalaparta (which they played incredibly well--see their video clip at Ion & Inaki: txalaparta). They added quite a few extra features to their well-rounded performance. Ion (on the left) began his musical career with txistu and then went on to learn more instruments. Here Ion is playing the panderoa (tambourine) while Inaki playes the trikitixa. Inaki was largely self-taught on the trikitixa and his unique compositions are quite good.
Iñaki Plaza Murga (Bilbao, Bizkaia, 1976) began studying trikitixa (Basque diatonic accordion) and traditional Basque percussion (txalaparta, pandero) in 1993. Later he began studying ethnic percussion (cajón, bodhrán, d´rbuka) and after that, the hindú slat with Sergey Sapricheff. At present he is a member of the group “Kepa Junkera”, in addition to “Ibon Koteron” and “Etxak” (a txalaparta troupe in Euskadi) as a txalapartari, percussionist and trikitilari. He has also teamed with Ion Garmendia on their current project titled “O+Hatz” (hogeihatz or "twenty fingers").
Ion Garmendia Anfurrutia (Ibarra, Gipuzkoa, 1979) began voice lessons and studying txistu in 1988 in Ibarra. In 1997 began teacher training program in Gasteiz, and in 1999 began learning alboka. Here his studies of alboka and gaita navarra were intensified with Ibon Koteron, he also studied txalaparta y pandero with Iñaki Plaza. From 2004 he is a part of Kepa Junkera’s group as a txalapartari, txistulari, albokari y percussionist.
No doubt that they are both accomplished musicians, and they put on a fine performance. An added bonus in all of this, however, is that we meet two nice guys. They were a pleasure to host. Hopefully we'll have them back amongst us again.
