Basque Txalaparta Duo from Euskal Kazeta Basque News on Vimeo.

Pop superstar Madonna played the Basque txalaparta when she visited the Basque Country and was very interested in Basque culture, according to an interview with a member of the group Kalakan. Thierry Biscary, one of the members of the musical trio Kalakan, told Euskadi Irratia radio that they met Madonna in 2011. She was vacationing in Guéthary, a Basque coastal [...]

Pop superstar Madonna has announced that she will be collaborating with the Basque trio Kalakan to remake one of her popular hits “Open Your Heart.” The song is scheduled to be part of her World Tour 2012. Last summer, Madonna took her family on holiday to France and spent several days in the Basque Country. The singer met the Basque [...]

Berri Txarrak, one of the biggest names in Basque rock, jammed at a studio in trendy Venice Beach in September 2011.

The txalaparta is one of the world’s most unique musical instruments — one in which two people play together creating rhythmic, organic melodies. This art form has been popularized by the Basque Country duo of Harkaitz Martinez de San Vicente and Mikel Ugarte. The two have taken their wooden txalaparta boards around the world. The two musicians recently performed in [...]

The Basque Block is Boise’s epicenter of Basque culture. This was especially true during the huge Jaialdi international Basque festival held in late July and early August 2010. Amuma Says No — Boise’s homegrown band — kept the block rocking with Basque dance music. The group is a musical ambassador of Basque culture and has played across the United States. [...]

Singers Mikel Markez and Erramun Martikorena are a generation apart and represent two different styles of music.

Two well-known singers from the Basque Country, Erramun Martikorena and Mikel Markez, both with very different styles of music, are in the U.S., performing together in Rocklin, San Francisco, Bakersfield and Chino, Calif. in the next two weeks. Martikorena, from the French-Basque town of Baigorri, continued his occupation as a shepherd along with a successful singing career that includes eight [...]

The Basque Country duo of Harkaitz Martinez de San Vicente and Mikel Ugarte have focused the spotlight on the unique instrument known as txalaparta here in the U.S.

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 [...]