There’s no Basque party without this song!! If you ever talk to a Basque ask them if they know Furra Furra and see what happens lol ^_^
Furra, furra, fandangua! Hortxe duzu fandangua geure gustukua!
Saint John’s night (Donibane Gaua in Euskara) is the Basque equivalent to Midsummer Night: a pagan festivity to honor the shortest night of the year. Although the Summer Solstice is on June 21st, Donibane Gaua is celebrated on June 23rd.
That mystical night, lots of bonfires are lit up all around Euskal Herria and, although there are many beliefs, the most extended tradition says you must write down all the bad things that have happened to you during the last year on a piece of paper, and all the good things you want to happen next year on another one before midnight.
Then, when midnight comes, the “bad things paper” must be burnt in the bonfire, and the “good things paper” must be saved until the next Saint John’s Night. There’s even a saying: to burn the old and to welcome the new.
After everyone has burnt their papers, there are dances around the fire and the bravest ones jump over it to prove they’re worthy of receiving the good things they asked for.
The music clip is Bok Espok by international Basque artist Kepa Junkera, wonderful melody to dance to around the fires ^_^.
(via mirelha)
stitchedtogetherinapreservedjar:
Itzaltuko Bardoa - Benito Lertxundiren:
A beautiful song from the Basque animated film Gartxot, about a wandering musician whose son, Mikelot, is taken from him to be sequestered in a monastery because of his beautiful voice. For years, Gartxot fought to get his son back. But instead, the Church and local authorities arrested him, beat him up, blinded him and put him in jail for the rest of his life. According to the legend, this did not stop him from singing his anger against the authorities and his anguish concerning his son- which is what this sad but beautiful song is all about. It is the song of a father who desperately calls for his little son in the hope that they will be reunited.
Gartxot did not live long imprisoned like this. The cold winter months that followed got the better of him, along with starvation, probably. Today, he is still remembered in traditional Basque songs and is one of Basque Country’s legendary heroes. Not because of extraordinary powers or being a war hero, but for his beautiful poems, his legendary voice and his hard-bitten determination. Until the very end.
Gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous.
Itzaltuko Bardoa - Benito Lertxundiren:
A beautiful song from the Basque animated film Gartxot, about a wandering musician whose son, Mikelot, is taken from him to be sequestered in a monastery because of his beautiful voice. For years, Gartxot fought to get his son back. But instead, the Church and local authorities arrested him, beat him up, blinded him and put him in jail for the rest of his life. According to the legend, this did not stop him from singing his anger against the authorities and his anguish concerning his son- which is what this sad but beautiful song is all about. It is the song of a father who desperately calls for his little son in the hope that they will be reunited.
Gartxot did not live long imprisoned like this. The cold winter months that followed got the better of him, along with starvation, probably. Today, he is still remembered in traditional Basque songs and is one of Basque Country’s legendary heroes. Not because of extraordinary powers or being a war hero, but for his beautiful poems, his legendary voice and his hard-bitten determination. Until the very end.
