Malgorzata K. Czarkowska, who I met during a visit to my dad’s family in Munitibar a number of years ago, and who was spending the summer visiting Euskal Herria and getting to know the people, sent me some very nice photos from her time there.  She goes after the people a little bit more, juxtaposing the old traditions with the new changes going on.  The gallery of her photographs can be found in the Photo Album.

It’s been too long since my last update.  Sorry folks.  I have lots of excuses, but I won’t bore you with them here.

Suffice it to say that I finally changed the poll, so there is at least a new poll.

Inaki of Durango Tatu has sent a number of photos of his work before, which can be seen in the Tattoo Gallery. He sends what may be his most ambitious tattoo yet in terms of incorporating Basque symbols. Also, maybe the most radical in terms of placement on the body!

I revamped the Photo Album, using the NextGEN Gallery by Alex Rabe, a plugin for WordPress that will hopefully make the Photo Album both easier to update and more visually appealing.  Any comments greatly appreciated.  I have new photos to add to the Album, which I hope to do soon.

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Another tattoo by Inaki of Durango Tatu. This one, he says, is a bit more radical in the use of symbolism.

Dafydd, frequent contributor and poster on the Forum posted this video in the Forum. It is a video of scenes from the Basque Country to the song Txoria Txori as sung by Joan Baez.

The lyrics, as reported on many sites, are:

Txoria Txori

Hegoak ebaki banizkio
Neria izango zen
Ez zuen aldegingo
Bainan, honela
Ez zen gehiago txoria izango
Eta nik…txoria nuen maite

The bird which is a bird

If i had cut the wings to her
She would have been mine
She would not be flees
But,thus
She would not have been anymore a bird
And me…it’s the bird which i loved

In spite of all of the tension that the various regions of Spain often feel for one another, I imagine that, today, much of Spain is celebrating their championship in Euro2008!

Zorionak Spain!

This is a site I stumbled across a while ago.  It is a site of photos from numerous towns and pueblos of the Basque Country, at least the Spanish side.  They have a pretty big list for Bizkaia, Nafarroa and Gipuzkoa, though the Araba section is a bit thin yet.  They even have a set of photos from my dad’s home town of Munitibar.  And the photos seem to be of good quality.

Tony Duffy is an Englishman, now living in Donostia where he teaches English. He has begun a blog about his experiences living in that beautiful Basque city, and he was kind enough to plug my site on his blog. From futbol, to food, to his impressions of the city, Tony gives a unique perspective on this great city.

ausArt is a Basque Classical label, specializing in 24-bit audio recordings.  What does that mean?  A CD — compact disc — is a 16-bit audio format.  That means there is some loss in fidelity of the recording.  If you use a DVD instead, you can get 24-bit audio and a higher fidelity of sound.  That is what ausArt does.  Their website goes into more detail and links to their online shop as well.  They also have a site dedicated to Basque composers with biographical information and includes free mp3 downloads of tracks.  They currently have a post about composer Juan Padrosa, who recently passed away.

Chloe Freslon, the online marketing director for Hotel des Academies et des Arts Paris, wrote to tell me about the Hotel. Why, do you ask? Well, the owners, Charlotte and her husband Laurent Inchauspe, are Basque and would love to welcome more Basques to Paris. The hotel, as the name implies, is focused on art and has been decorated by several French artists. The rooms look amazing.

Details about the hotel:
Hotel des Académies et des Arts
15 rue de la Grande Chaumière
75006 Paris - FRANCE
Tel. : +33 1 43 26 66 44
Contact : Laurent Inchauspé ou Henry Mona
information@hoteldesacademies.com
www.hoteldesacademies.com

Click on the photos for a larger view.