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.

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

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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Boise has become an epicenter for all things Basque as the mammoth Jaialdi 2010 festival launched this week with celebrations in and around the city’s Basque Block.

Culture, music, dance, food, drink and sports abounded as thousands of people from Basque communities in Latin America, the United States, Canada and Europe flocked to Boise. Make sure to follow Euskal Kazeta on YouTube, Twitter and Facebook for all the Jaialdi action.

Related Euskal Kazeta Jaialdi articles:
Pelota Takes Center Stage at Jaialdi
Countdown to Jaialdi
Jaialdi Tickets on Sale
World Pilota Council Tournament

Several hundred people showed up on the Basque Block in the evening of Tuesday, July 27, the first official day of Jaialdi 2010. Musicians played, while the crowd ate pintxos and sangria from the Basque Market, or specialty drinks, like kalimotxos at the Basque Center.

A duo plays the ancient Basque instrument txalaparta for Jaialdi in Boise.

Ander and Imanol Zabaleta, from the Basque Country, played the diatonic accordion and the tambourine, in a duo known as “trikitixa.” They came to Jaialdi after being invited by organizers last year. Meanwhile, as the staff at Bar Gernika struggled to keep up with the orders in their crowded pub, another group of Basque Country musicians broke out their instruments there to the delight of the customers.

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Girls from Gauden Bat wound their ribbons around the maypole at the Southern California picnic.

The Southern California Basque Club held its 64th annual picnic at the Chino Fairgrounds Sunday, the 4th of July. While very hot weather usually prevails during the summer in Chino, Sunday’s temperatures hit a high of only 86 degrees.

The picnic, which always falls on the first Sunday of July, coincided with Independence Day this year, perhaps resulting in the smaller-than-usual crowd. Fireworks at the nearby Ruben Ayala Park took place the night before.

Nevertheless, the club still served 275 barbecue lamb lunches and 216 barbecue steak dinners. The SoCal picnic in July and the Chino picnic on Labor Day weekend are the only Basque festivals that serve two barbecue meals in one day.

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Boise’s Trey McIntyre Project will present one of the more interesting artistic performances at Jaialdi 2010.

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The Kern County Basque Club hosted its successful annual festival this past weekend, Continue Reading

Luhartz at Kern County Basque Festival 2010 from Euskal Kazeta Basque News on Vimeo.

As he continues to innovate with his musical style, renowned Basque accordionist Kepa Junkera will be playing at Basque clubs in Boise and Chino this month.

The world music and Basque folk music accordionist – known in Basque as a trikitilari because of the special diatonic button accordion he plays – has been working on a trio of CDs that include songs and music videos performed with a number of artists in the United States and Latin America.

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