New Guest Photo Album


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.

Txoria Txori by Joan Baez

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

Fotos de Pueblos

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.

ausArt: Basque classical music

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.

Basque Hotel in Paris

hotel-les-academies-et-des-arts-paris-6.jpgChloe 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.hotel-les-academies-et-des-arts-paris-4.jpg

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.comhotel-les-academies-et-des-arts-paris-1.jpg
www.hoteldesacademies.com

Click on the photos for a larger view.

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