Basque festivals are popular — everyone enjoys them, especially the food. Here are a few videos inspired by recent festivals — and the summer festival season has barely started. Video producer Jean Paul Barthe gives a glimpse of the San Francisco Basque Club picnic June 3.

Lured by opportunities in a new land, Basques arrived in the American West during the 1800s and 1900s. The vast majority worked as sheepherders, living a lonely lifestyle with their flocks in the mountain meadows and harsh desert plains of the Great Basin. Forty years ago, 90 percent of the sheepherders in the Great Basin were of Basque heritage. But [...]

Pantxoa eta Peio, popular folk singers from the Basque Country, will be performing in a concert Sunday March 28 at San Francisco Basque Cultural Center. For years, the duo’s songs have been a mainstay for Basque music lovers. With their soothing, melodic voices, the two singers have extolled the virtues of work, love and family. Their lyrics have also been [...]

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

Above: Promotional video for the San Francisco Basque Club’s “Bertso Jaialdia” on March 13. For more information, click here. The Basque competitors gather at festivals or among friends to face off in improvised lyrical duels. Each is given a topic, which can be anything from life on the farm to friendship or family. One by one, the singers belt out [...]

Popular world accordionist Kepa Junkera spent some time in California.

She didn’t know it at the time, but when Nere Lete visited acclaimed Basque author Bernardo Atxaga, it would ultimately lead her to Idaho, where she’s now a professor at Boise State University. On that day 18 years ago, Lete pitched her idea inside the kitchen of Atxaga’s home in the Basque Country. She told the writer she wanted to [...]

First there was the Txakoli Fest in North Carolina earlier this summer, where eight types of the venerable wine from the Basque Country were featured. Then last week, the San Francisco Chronicle praised the savory taste of Txakoli, calling it a great summer drink. The newspaper compared the wine to a movie star walking down the red carpet amid a [...]

The Makila Two coats of arms are carved on the baton. On the upper part, there is a sting of threaded wrought iron which can be seen when unscrewing the handle; below, a genuine club which balances the makila for walking. The brass, nickel-silver or silver collars are cut alongside the diameter of the wood, then brazed and embossed. The [...]