Basque Handball Players Woo Bakersfield Crowd from Euskal Kazeta Basque News on Vimeo.

Above: Luhartz and Rafa Iriondo interview.

For the Basque band Luhartz, playing for Basque-American audiences is a way to acknowledge the hard work made by local Basque clubs to promote the culture of their homeland.

The group, which specializes in Basque dance music, has performed at Basque festivals in San Francisco, Bakersfield, Boise and Reno since first coming to the U.S. in 2002.

The five-member band played Friday June 4 at the Basque Cultural Center in South San Francsico and will play again Sunday June 6 during the San Francisco Basque Club’s annual festival at the Petaluma fairgrounds. Before that, they were at the Kern County Basque festival during Memorial Day weekend.

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Above: Basque pelota exhibition in Bakersfield.

Four Basque handball players battled it out in exhibition matches at the Kern County Basque Festival and are now headed to the Bay Area, where they will square off on the indoor court at the Basque Cultural Center in South San Francisco on Friday June 4.

The Bay Area event will be dedicated to a history of handball in the region and will kickoff the San Francisco Basque Club’s weekend festival celebrating the club’s 50 years.

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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.

The origins of Basques in Kern County and the history of Basque whalers in North America will be discussed during the 2010 Basque Studies Symposium on Friday May 28 at Cal-State Bakersfield.

The event is scheduled to feature researchers Steve Bass and George Ansolabehere, as well as novelist Christine Echeverria Bender.

Christine Echeverria Bender.

Bass and Ansolabehere will be discussing their project on early Basque settlement in the Bakersfield area. Their research was sponsored by a grant from the Kern County Basque Club, which will kick off its annual weekend festival on Saturday with a mus tournament and pelota.

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Championship Basque pelota players will be returning to California later this month to play exhibition games in Bakersfield and South San Francisco.

The four athletes — Fernando Goñi, AKA Goñi III; Pedro Eulate; Alberto Ongay and Jon Apezetxea — will battle it out on the handball courts during festival events at the Kern County Basque Club and the Basque Cultural Center. (Updated information:Ongay and Apezetxea will not be coming to the U.S. They will be replaced by two other Basque players.)

Pelota, or handball, is akin to a national sport in the Basque Country, where players square off on different-sized courts in tournaments across Europe. Basque immigrants brought the game with them when they came to the United States.

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Handball at Bakersfield Basque Festival from Euskal Kazeta Basque News on Vimeo.

Juanita M. Ermigarat Laxague May 22, 1917 - September 3, 2009 Juanita Mary Laxague passed away in her sleep of natural causes on her wedding anniversary, Thursday September 3, 2009 in Bakersfield, CA.

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Anita Caminondo (Recatune) was born on July 17, 1963, the 1st child of 3 children born to Pierre and Mercedes Recatune. She went home to Heaven on June 18, 2009 and will be reunited with her father, Pierre.

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Memorial services will be held on Friday, July 3, 2009, at 2:00 p.m. at RiverLakes Community Church, 4301 Calloway Drive, to honor the life of Joseph Paul Eribarne, who passed away Saturday, June 27, 2009, following a stroke on June 12. Joe was born in Bakersfield, the only and dearly loved child of his mother, Marguerite Eribarne and father, Joe P. Eribarne.

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By Nancy Zubiri

Four professional handball players from the Basque Country talk about their visit to Bakersfield to play at the Kern County Basque Festival.

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By Pierre Igoa

Handball player Jean Lorda; score keeper Jeannot Arrayet

I’ll never forget that Sunday afternoon at the handball court at the Noriega Hotel.

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HISTORY

French Military Bands Led to Start of Basque Klikas

Klika PierreFX

To understand the origins of the Basque klika, one must know the history of French military music.

The Origins of Military Music

The association of music and war is a phenomenon that has experience throughout history. Hebrews and Egyptians, Greeks and Romans, Anglo-Saxons and Gauls, all used trumpets, flutes, harps, bells, and battle songs, to scare their enemy and to communicate fighting orders by various signals.

French Military Music during the Middle Ages and The Renaissance

As far as creating musical and rhythmic effects is concerned, French military music was used during the Renaissance, when in 1534 Francois the 1st decided to integrate in each infantry two drums and a fife.

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How and when did Basque dancing get organized in Bakersfield?
See what Jeannette Arrayet had to say.

Bakersfield dancers

Rose was determined to pass along the Basque tradition of singing, dancing and music through their children. Anyone who liked dance would come to practice in the old carpet shop behind their home. Their daughter Elizabeth provided the accordion music.

Some first dancers were Jeannette, Yvonne, Nane and Jean Erassarret. Marianne Laxague, Delores and Theresa Iribarren, J.P. Erreca, Ben Casenave, J.B. Sarçabal and Francois Pedeflous, Marcel Uharriet and Rose Ann Erassarret.

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