Basque Fact of the Week, Euskadi

Basque Fact of the Week: The Deadly 1985 Airline Crash on Mount Oiz

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Forty years ago, the most horrific airline disaster to ever occur in the Basque Country happened just outside of my dad’s hometown of Munitibar. Even today, the crash is imprinted on the collective minds of the local Basques – more than once it has come up in conversation when I’ve visited the Basque Country. While Oiz is known for its spectacular views, it also has this dark cloud associated with it.

A graphic illustrating the crash of Iberia Flight 610 with an antenna on the peak of Mount Oiz. Graphic from El Diario Vasco.
  • On February 19, 1985, a flight from Madrid to Bilbao crashed in the mountains outside of my dad’s hometown of Munitibar. All of the people on board – 141 passengers and 7 crew – died in the crash. It is the worst airline disaster in the history of the Basque Country.
  • The plane crashed because its wing clipped a television antenna on the top of Mount Oiz. Authorities concluded that the autopilot had failed to engage and that an alarm indicating too low of an altitude went off, but the pilots misinterpreted the alarm and dropped even lower, low enough to hit the antenna on the peak of the mountain. Thick fog which limited visibility to 2.5 miles also contributed to the crash. Yet another factor was the altimeter design, which was hard to read. And another factor was that the TV antenna had not been on the navigation maps and was too tall for safety.
  • The left wing of the plane was completely sheared off because of the impact. The plane rolled to the left and crashed into the trees covering the area. Trees were cut down in a path of more than half a mile before the plane landed in a ravine where it continued to skid before blowing up.
  • As can be imagined, the recovery was challenging. Debris spread over a radius of almost 2 miles in the rugged terrain of the Basque mountains. There were no survivors and several bodies were impossible to identify.
  • One of the consequences of the crash is that all altimeters were changed in all Spanish planes. The United States had already made such a change due to the penchant for pilots to misread it. While investigators ultimately said the crash was due to pilot error, many people didn’t accept that conclusion, even blaming ETA for bringing the plane down.
  • Even as late as 2021, human remains were found on the crash site, which prompted requests to completely clear the site of all vestiges of the wreck. Further, efforts to create a memorial to those lost were also put in motion.

A full list of all of Buber’s Basque Facts of the Week can be found in the Archive.

Primary sources: Iberia Flight 610, Wikipedia; Las 148 víctimas olvidadas de la mayor catástrofe aérea en Euskadi by Beñat Arnaiz y Javier Bienzobas, El Diario Vasco

Basque Proverb of the Week

Basque Proverb of the Week: Proverb #26

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Aseak gosea ezin ikus.

The satiated cannot stand to see the hungry.

Image generated by Buber using ChatGPT.

These proverbs were collected by Jon Aske. For the full list, along with the origin and interpretation of each proverb, click this link.

Basque Fact of the Week, Diaspora, People

Basque Fact of the Week: John Arrillaga, Stanford’s Biggest Fan

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Basque names have a way of jumping out at you. I was recently attending a workshop at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, situated on the Stanford University campus, when someone mentioned the Arrillaga rec center. “Arrillaga?” I thought to myself. “Has to be Basque.” Sure enough, John Arrillaga, one of Stanford’s biggest supporters ever, was of Basque ancestry. His story starts off familiarly enough – humble beginnings as the grandson of Basque immigrants. However, he found opportunities to become one of the wealthiest people in the United States.

The Arrillaga Science Center, on the campus of the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. Photo of John Arrillaga from the Stanford Report.
  • John Arrillaga was born on April 3, 1937, in Inglewood, California. His mother, Freda, who was originally from England, had been a nurse while his father, Gabriel, worked in a market. Gabriel traced his ancestry to the Basque Country. John’s grandparents Gabriel Arrillaga and Magdalena Acarregui were both born in the Basque Country, though I haven’t been able to find out where exactly.
  • John came from humble beginnings. When he graduated from high school, he had to borrow a suit jacket from his chemistry teacher. However, he was a talented basketball player and went to Stanford University on a basketball scholarship. He graduated from Stanford with a degree in geology, but that wasn’t the end of his basketball career. He played for both the Bilbao Águilas – a chance to explore his Basque roots – and the then San Francisco Warriors in the NBA.
  • In the 1960s, Arrillaga began his career in real estate, buying farmland with his partner Richard Peery that they converted into office space. This was at the time when the semiconductor industry was starting to take off and Arrillaga and Peery were a huge part of the development and growth of Silicon Valley, providing the rising tech companies with needed space. Together, they were one of the biggest landlords in the area and in 2020, Arrillaga was listed in the top 400 of Forbes richest Americans, with a net worth of $2.5 billion.
  • Arrillaga gave back to his university, Stanford, in numerous ways, contributing to the construction of multiple buildings, including housing for graduate students and rebuilding the football stadium. He also endowed more than 50 scholarships – notable recipients of his scholarships include Tiger Woods, Katie Ledecky, and Christian McCaffrey. He made two donations to the university in excess of $100 million each. As a result, his name has become a fixture around the campus. The Arrillaga Science Center is just one of many buildings that bears his name.
  • Arrillaga died on January 24, 2022. His legacy continues on with his children, Laura and John, who continue his life of philanthropy.

A full list of all of Buber’s Basque Facts of the Week can be found in the Archive.

Primary sources: John Arrillaga, Wikipedia; John Arrillaga, longtime Stanford philanthropist and Silicon Valley real estate developer, dies at 84, Stanford Report; John Arrillaga, el vasco dueño de Silicon Valley by Ramón Trecet, El Confidencial

Basque Proverb of the Week

Basque Proverb of the Week: Proverb #25

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Arrotz-herri, otso-herri.

A foreign land is a land of wolves.

Image generated by Buber using ChatGPT.

These proverbs were collected by Jon Aske. For the full list, along with the origin and interpretation of each proverb, click this link.

Basque Fact of the Week, Diaspora

Basque Fact of the Week: Zortziak Bat International Symposium on the Basque Diaspora and Cultural Expressions

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The Basque diaspora – those Basques that have found themselves for a multitude of reasons living and building lives outside of the Basque Country – have made significant contributions to the continued health and prosperity of Basque culture. Inspired by the motto Zazpiak Bat – the seven are one – the phrase Zortziak Bat has been used to include all of those Basques in the diaspora – the diaspora is the eighth province of the Basque Country. To recognize and celebrate the contributions of the Basques of the diaspora to Basque studies, a special symposium will be held during Jaialdi week. If you want to learn about a variety of aspects of Basque culture, check it out!

  • The Zortziak Bat symposium will be held July 30-31, 2025, on the campus of Boise State University as part of the activities associated with Jaialdi 2025. The symposium’s goal is to explore the Basque diaspora – hence the name – with multiple talks and presentations about the history of Basques outside of the Basque Country.
  • The theme of the symposium is “Rowing Together” – Elkarrekin Arraunean in Basque – highlighting the collective effort of so many people dedicated to preserving the Basque culture. The theme is inspired by the trainera rowing teams that have to work together to steer their boats through the water. Similarly, this world-wide collection of scholars, creators, and experts, including those in the diaspora, help the Basque culture navigate the currents of cultural, political, social, and historical changes.
  • These presentations will cover a range of topics, including on the role of the diaspora in the history and future of the Basque Country, how the diaspora can help promote and preserve the Basque language, and what it means to be Basque in the diaspora, as well as more historical and cultural discussions of the diaspora, including the use of song and sport in establishing and promoting identity. There will also be talks about bringing Basque traditions into the future, including in the realms of fashion and myth. The full program can be found here.
  • Several friends of Buber’s Basque Page will also be presenting. Pedro Oiarzabal will give a talk on the role that Basques played in the American effort of World War II while John Ysursa will give a talk in dedication of Warren Pepperdine, a former Husky (yay!) that made significant contributions to Basque studies.
  • In addition to the talks, there are also interactive experiences centered around Basque arboglyphs, an interactive and traveling art piece, and a cafe that promises to be an Euskara immersion experience – if you want to practice your Basque, just show up!
  • The program ends with a special panel discussion with Lehendakari Imanol Pradales Gil, current president of the Basque Autonomous Community followed by a special awards ceremony in which several people, including myself, will be honored for their efforts in promoting and preserving Basque culture, history, and language.
  • The symposium is hosted by the Basque Studies Foundation in partnership with the Basque Studies program at Boise State University and the Basque Educational Organization.
  • For those interested but that can’t travel to Boise, the symposium sessions will also be shared via Zoom:

A full list of all of Buber’s Basque Facts of the Week can be found in the Archive.

Primary sources: Zortziakbat.eus

Basque Proverb of the Week

Basque Proverb of the Week: Proverb #24

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Arranoak lumak behar, txepetxak ere bai.

The eagle needs feathers, and the wren does too.

Image generated by Buber using ChatGPT.

These proverbs were collected by Jon Aske. For the full list, along with the origin and interpretation of each proverb, click this link.

Basque Fact of the Week, Music

Basque Fact of the Week: The Folk Band Oskorri

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I’ve written about how, when I returned from my year in the Basque Country, I sort of shocked my dad by playing some Basque punk. However, I also came back with some folk music, including Oskorri. This, my dad could get in to. When he left the Basque Country, they didn’t have recordings of all of this music that he grew up with, so, when I was growing up, he never listened to any of it. Having a few CDs of music like Oskorri changed that for him, returned a little flavor of the Basque Country he grew up in.

Oskorri’s lineup at the time of their last concert. Third from the top is Natxo de Felipe. Photo from El Diario Vasco.
  • Oskorri was created in 1971 by Natxo de Felipe, performing their first concert at the University of Deusto in March of that year. Their first album, released in 1976, was based on the poems of Gabriel Aresti. In their early years, during the time of transition from Franco’s dictatorship, their music was much more political and combative, reflecting their (and Aresti’s) leftist sympathies, though with time their message mellowed.
  • During those first years, the police and the Guardia Civil would show up to disperse the crowds, including through beating concert goers. However, they also received pressure from ETA who “sabotaged” some of their performances because of their association with the EMK – the Communist Movement of Euskadi.
  • Their name comes from a line from one of Aresti’s poems: “Oskorria zabaltzen da/ euskaldunen lurrean” (The red sky opens in the land of the Basques). Aresti was a good friend of Natxo de Felipe.
  • Their initial sound combined Basque folk instruments with jazz. However, that sound evolved until they found their own distinct style. A style that maybe started a bit more modern shifted as they gained popularity to include more traditional sounds, including the alboka, the trikitixa, and the txalaparta. However, as they included more international instruments, particularly the violin and other percussion instruments, their sound continued to evolve into what is sometimes called world music.
  • Many of their songs have become tradition in their own right, known and sung across the Basque Country. These include “Euskal Herrian Euskaraz” (In the Basque Country, Basque), “Aita-semeak” (Father and Son), and “Gora ta gora beti” (Always Higher and Higher, their version of the Czech song “Škoda lásky”). “Aita-semeak” was actually the first single that Oskorri released back in 1975.
  • As is often typical of any group that has performed for so long, Oskorri has a long history of collaborating with other groups, both within and outside of the Basque Country.
  • The band released their final album in 2016. Their last performance was on November 22, 2015, at the Arriaga Theater in Bilbo. During their 40 years, they played some 3000 concerts all over the globe. Their longevity also served as a platform for bringing in new, young musicians who benefited from collaborating with these well-established musicians.

A full list of all of Buber’s Basque Facts of the Week can be found in the Archive.

Primary sources: Oskorri, Wikipedia; El último escalón de Oskorri by Iñaki Esteban, El Diaro Vasco