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

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.

Sometimes, learning about Basque music when you reside outside of Euskadi can be difficult.  There are new media available, including streaming music on the internet, but, still, it can be difficult to really sample and discover new groups.

Txema of Bilbo sent me a link to Ekaitzaldi, a blog that covers a wide range of Basque music.  The only criterion is that the music was made in Euskadi.  The styles range from punk to classical to, it appears, Latin as well.   What’s more, and what may be questionable, legally, the blog offers downloads of the music.  But, it might be a way to sample music before buying it.