I’m a metalhead. I like my music loud, aggressive, and angry. However, I have a soft spot for anything Basque, including Ravel. Perhaps the only classical CD I’ve ever owned was a compilation of some of Ravel’s greatest pieces, including Boléro. A full list of all of Buber’s Basque Facts of the Week can be […]
Hard times brings out the best and worst in people, pushing them in directions they may never have ever imagined. Such is the case of Txomin Letamendi. An extremely talented musician, the Spanish Civil War and its aftermath pushed him to become first a soldier and then a spy for the Basque government in exile, […]
With the World Cup, the world is ablaze with soccer fever. With several premier teams, the Basque Country has a strong association with soccer. There are a number of Basque players participating in the World Cup as part of the national teams of Spain, Ghana, Mexico, and Japan – Euskal Kazeta has a nice writeup […]
On Saturday, June 6, 2026, my dad’s sister Rosario Uberuaga Zabala died. She was on her balcony, tending her flowers, when she was struck by a heart attack. I first met Rosario in 1991, when I went to live in the Basque Country. Like most of dad’s family, I never knew her growing up. I […]
Last week I wrote about the women Erraketistak, professional racket ball players that were pioneers in the world of women’s sport. One of the very best to ever play was Maria Antonia Uzkudun, also known as Txikita de Anoeta. She began playing professionally at the age of 13 and had a stellar career that took […]
Joxe Mallea-Olaetxe, a long-time friend, is a historian who has worked tirelessly to document the history of Basques in the American West. One very visible example is his work on the arboglyphs Basque sheepherders left behind as they roamed the hills, valleys, and mountains of states such as Nevada, Idaho, and Oregon, but he has […]
Last year, the pioneering work Amerikanuak celebrated its 50th anniversary. Written by Willian Douglass and Jon Bilbao back in 1975, this book surveys the history of Basques in the Americas – not just the United States but all of North and South America. Bilbao had spent many years chronically all works written about the Basques which undoubtedly […]
The medieval history of the Basque Country is both fascinating and so convoluted. There are so many marriages back and forth between different families as royals tried to consolidate and expand power that it becomes dizzying. A great example is Tota, or Toda, Aznar of Pamplona. Her skill as a diplomat and in establishing power […]
Not growing up in the Basque Country and not being exposed to the history and culture on a daily basis, there is so much I simply don’t know, so many figures that made an impact on the culture that I’ve never heard of. Gabriel Aresti is one of those. While I’ve heard his name in […]
Even as recently as the early 1990s, when I lived in Donostia for a year, Bilbao seemed this dirty place that wasn’t really worth a visit. I think in that whole year, I only visited a couple of times at most. However, the city transformed itself from a relic of industry to a modern and […]
