Kepa Junkera Urraza (born 1965 in Bilbao, Euskadi, Spain) is a Basque musician and composer. A master of the trikitixa, the diatonic accordion, he has recorded more than 10 albums. [1] Junkera won the Latin Grammy Award for Best Folk Album in 2004 for his album K. [2]
ETA, an acronym for Euskadi Ta Askatasuna, was an armed Basque nationalist and far-left separatist organization in the Basque Country between 1959 and 2018, with its goal being independence for the region. The group was founded in 1959 during the era of Francoist Spain and later evolved from a pacifist group promoting traditional Basque culture to a violent paramilitary group engaged in a campaign of bombings, assassinations, and kidnappings throughout Spain and especially in the Southern Basque Country against the regime which was highly centralised and hostile to any sort of identities that was not Castilian-centric. ETA was the main group within the Basque National Liberation Movement and was the most important Basque participant in the Basque conflict.
Batasuna was a Basque nationalist political party. Based mainly in Spain, it was banned in 2003, after a court ruling declared proven that the party was financing ETA with public money.
Athletic Club, commonly known as just Athletic, is a Spanish professional football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Basque Country of Spain. They are known as Los Leones because their stadium was built near a church called San Mamés, which was named after Saint Mammes, an early Christian thrown to the lions by the Romans. Mammes pacified the lions and was later made a saint. The team plays its home matches at the San Mamés Stadium. Its home colours are red and white-striped shirts with black shorts.
The Ertzaintza is the autonomous police force for the Basque Country, largely replacing the Spanish Policía Nacional and Guardia Civil. An Ertzaintza member is called an ertzaina.
Basque music refers to the music made in the Basque Country, reflecting traits related to its society/tradition, and devised by people from that territory. While traditionally more closely associated to rural based and Basque language music, the growing diversification of its production during the last decades has tipped the scale in favour of a broad definition.
The trikititrikitixa, or eskusoinu txiki ) is a two-row Basque diatonic button accordion with right-hand rows keyed a fifth apart and twelve unisonoric bass buttons. The onomatopoeia trikitixa, apparently stemming from the sound emitted by the tambourine, originally referred to a traditional Basque ensemble, made up of the instrument which now bears the name as well as alboka, txistu and other instruments.
Euskal Irrati Telebista is a Spanish the Basque Autonomous Community's public broadcast service, which broadcasts throughout the Basque Country. Its main brand is Euskal Telebista.
Berria is the only daily newspaper published wholly in the Basque language and which can be read in the entirety of the Basque country. It was created after the closure of the previous Basque language newspaper, Egunkaria, by the Spanish government, after being accused of having ties with ETA.
Ibon Koteron is a Basque musician renowned as a player of the alboka. His 1996 debut release was a joint record with Kepa Junkera, entitled Leonen Orroak.
Jesús Arámbarri Gárate was a Spanish classical music conductor and composer native to the Basque Country.
Iñaki Plaza Murga is a Basque musician from Bilbao, Biscay. He began studying trikitixa and traditional Basque percussion in 1993. He later began studying ethnic percussion as well as the hindú slat with Sergey Sapricheff. He played with Kepa Junkera until 2008, and currently plays with Ibon Koteron and “Etxak” as a txalapartari, percussionist and trikitilari. He partners with Ion Garmendia Anfurrutia on their current project, entitled “Hogeihatz Proiektua”. The first discographic work of this project is projected to be introduced next winter.
The Basque Country, also called Basque Autonomous Community, is an autonomous community in northern Spain. It includes the Basque provinces of Álava, Biscay, and Gipuzkoa.
Xabi Aburruzaga is a Basque musician and composer, who is a master of the Trikitixa, the diatonic accordion.
The Basque conflict, also known as the Spain–ETA conflict, was an armed and political conflict from 1959 to 2011 between Spain and the Basque National Liberation Movement, a group of social and political Basque organizations which sought independence from Spain and France. The movement was built around the separatist organization ETA, which had launched a campaign of attacks against Spanish administrations since 1959. ETA had been proscribed as a terrorist organization by the Spanish, British, French and American authorities at different moments. The conflict took place mostly on Spanish soil, although to a smaller degree it was also present in France, which was primarily used as a safe haven by ETA members. It was the longest running violent conflict in modern Western Europe. It has been sometimes referred to as "Europe's longest war".
Santiago is an album by The Chieftains, released through RCA Records in 1996. The album is dedicated to traditional music of Galicia, the region in the northwest of Spain, and also adaptation of Galician emigrants' musical folklore in Latin American music, for example, in the music of Mexico and Cuba. As Paddy Moloney noted in the CD's booklet, Galicia is "the world's most undiscovered Celtic country".
The Basque Country is a cross-border cultural region that has a distinctive culture including its own language, customs, festivals, and music.
Bulgarka Junior Quartet is a Bulgarian vocal folklore ensemble.
Since 1912, the Spanish football club Athletic Bilbao has had an unwritten rule whereby the club will only sign players who were born in the Basque Country or who learned their football skills at a Basque club. On occasion, youth players have also been invited to join due to ancestral links to the region, but no senior players have been signed based on Basque heritage alone.
Bingen Zupiria is a Spanish politician affiliated with the Basque National Party. As of 28 November 2016, he serves as Minister of Culture and Language Policy in the Basque Government. Between 2016 and 2020, he served in this position in the Second Urkullu Government led by Iñigo Urkullu and as of 8 September 2020, he serves in this position in the Third Urkullu Government. He also serves as government spokesperson.
The ASEA electric locomotive was an electric locomotive type originally operated by Ferrocarriles Vascongados in the Basque Country, Spain. When that company was absorbed by FEVE, it came to be known as the FEVE 4200 series. It was later operated by Euskotren.