Twenty-six card players from 10 different countries just finished four days of playing the Basque card game mus in Chino, for the XXXIII World Mus Championship.

Manuel Gamio plays against second place international winner Roger Mendiondo.

The big Jaialdi festival in Boise last month was a showcase for several new Basque cultural efforts, including a group of dancers from California. Continue Reading

By John Ysursa
One of the most recognizable male Basque dances, which has become popular this summer at Basque-American festivals, is the “banakoa” from the region of Durango in Bizkaia.

Luke Echeverria dances the banakoa at the Fresno Basque picnic 2010.

For David Romtvedt, playing his accordion is a way of helping Basque people maintain their unique culture.

Since the mid-1990s, the wiry accordionist has been belting out fandangos and other folk and dance tunes with the Bighorn Basque Club in Buffalo, Wyoming. He recently played with the group’s dancers at the huge Jaialdi 2010 international Basque festival in Boise.

“It’s really, really important to me,” Romtvedt says of playing his diatonic button accordion, known as a trikitixa in the Basque language of Euskera. “The music is linked to Basque people maintaining their culture as Basques.”

Additional Euskal Kazeta accordionist videos, articles:
Kepa Junkera Live in Chino
Kepa Junkera Hopes to Spread Basque Music

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For the Aguerres, the family that plays together, stays together. Plays in the klika, that is.
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The capacity crowd at Boise’s historic Anduiza Fronton was treated to a tight, back-and-forth struggle between squads from San Francisco and Boise during the final match of the 35th-annual pilota championships sponsored by the North American Basque Organizations, or NABO.

The lead changed hands several times in the exciting paleta goma contest, which was held Friday evening July 30 during the Jaialdi 2010 Basque festival.

Related Euskal Kazeta Pelota articles, videos:
Boise and Bakersfield Women Play in Pilota Tourney
World Pilota Council Tournament at Jaialdi 2010
Basque Handball Players Wow Bakersfield Crowd
Popularizing Basque Pelota

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Dancing the Banakoa from Euskal Kazeta Basque News on Vimeo.

The recent Fetes de Bayonne attracted a “flashmob” estimated to be a crowd of over 2,000 people who danced to the song “I Gotta Feeling.” Today (Aug. 13), in Biarritz, France, another flashmob dance event, advertised on Facebook was scheduled to take place in front of the Biarritz casino, and organizers were hoping to get an even larger crowd.

On July 31, 2010, during the annual Fetes de Bayonne, hundreds of people
gathered to dance to “I Gotta Feeling.”

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The hometown Oinkari Dancers performed to an enthusiastic crowd during the recent Jaialdi 2010 international Basque festival at Boise’s Expo Idaho fairgrounds.

The group, which usually performs dances from the Basque province of Bizkaia, changed their routine for the festival and danced several numbers from the province of Nafarroa. The Oinkari Dancers are celebrating their 50th anniversary year and held a reunion brunch during Jaialdi. For more information on that event, see Euskal Kazeta’s article.

Related Euskal Kazeta Jaialdi articles and videos:
Jaialdi Dance Groups at Fairgrounds
Boise Celebrates Jaialdi
Basque Extravaganza at Boise Fairgrounds

Jaialdi 2010 Sports Night from Euskal Kazeta Basque News on Vimeo.

The Oinkari dancers have perhaps done more than any Basque-American group to promote Basque culture in the United States. Continue Reading

Click on the video above to see a few of the many Jaialdi 2010 musical and dance performances Saturday July 31 at the Expo Idaho fairgrounds.

More than a dozen music and dance groups from the United States and the Basque Country were on hand for the day-long celebration attended by thousands of people. The week-long Jaialdi festival concludes today with final day of festivities at the fairgrounds.

Among the groups was Mutxiko Elkartea, which came to the festival from the Basque Country.

Related Euskal Kazeta Jaialdi articles, videos:

Oinkari Dancers Celebrate 50 years at Jaialdi
NABO Pilota Championships at Jaialdi
Jaialdi has Junior Mus Tournament
Boise Celebrates Jaialdi 2010

Thousands of people were treated to a Basque cultural extravaganza Saturday July 31 as Jaialdi 2010 moved to the Expo Idaho fairgrounds in the first of two days of celebrations at the sprawling center.

Basque athletes Aimar Irigoien and Ugaitz Mugertza enjoy the festival. Photo: Euskal Kazeta.

The huge fairground was filled with vendors, an exhibit of Basque sheepherder wagons and two arenas where dance and musical groups from Basque communities in the United States and the Basque Country performed colorful routines for festival-goers who filled the bleachers in the air-conditioned center.

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It was a California sweep in the 35th-annual NABO men’s pelota championships with Bakersfield and San Francisco coming out on top during the Jaialdi 2010 tournament at Boise’s historic Anduiza Fronton.

The Bakersfield duo of Dennis Petrissans and Jose Goñi beat a tough San Francisco squad to capture the Class B Division paleta goma finals before a packed house on Friday evening July 30.

Bakersfield (in blue) won the NABO Division B paleta goma final against San Francisco. Photo: Euskal Kazeta.

The games were simulcasted live to hundreds of people at the Basque Center as Jaialdi crowds saturated the Basque Block during the huge festival. Xabi Berrueta of San Francisco did the play-by-play announcing.

Related Euskal Kazeta Pelota Coverage:
Jaialdi 2010 World Pilota Council Women’s Tournament
Bakersfield and Boise Women in Jaialdi 2010 World Pilota Council Tourney

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Four girls were part of the four teams.

The North American Basque Organizations is a federation of clubs that work to promote many traditions of the Basque culture in the United States. Among their pet projects is junior mus, to start kids learning the Basque card game early.

The project apparently is achieving success, based on the enjoyment the current generation is getting from mus. The latest tournament was held Friday, July 30, in the elegant Grove Hotel.

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