Tony Duffy is an Englishman, now living in Donostia where he teaches English. He has begun a blog about his experiences living in that beautiful Basque city, and he was kind enough to plug my site on his blog. From futbol, to food, to his impressions of the city, Tony gives a unique perspective on this great city.
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
Chloe 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.
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.com
www.hoteldesacademies.com
Click on the photos for a larger view.
Ekaitzaldi: Basque Music Blog
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.
Basque Instant Messaging
From EuskoSare again. If you are big into instant messaging and want to give your IMing a Basque flavor, EuskoSare has some graphics that are perfect for you. Check out this site for a collection of graphics for both male and female identities. The one at left most closely resembles me. 🙂
International Center for the Basque Diaspora
Benoit Etcheverry, the EuskoSare coordinator for France, is also heavily involved in creating the International Center for the Basque Diaspora. I previously posted an announcement in which they were looking for volunteers to help renovate Azkarate Castle to serve as this Center. Benoit, pictured at left, sent me a couple of photos of the Center, showing the current state of things. It looks great! I can’t wait to visit! Click on the photos of the Center to get a bigger version.
Basque Forum
A forum for Basques all over the world, Euskal Herria Aintzindari has news, a calendar of events, and, maybe most interestingly, a “Musika Txokoa” where you can listen to streams of various modern Basque music. The site is entirely in Euskara, which may be a challenge for some of us, but may also force us to learn a bit more.
Short Film Contest
Rosa Totorica, the US coordinator for EuskoSare, wrote to share the news about EuskoSare’s first online Short Film Contest, EuskoMovie 2008! They are looking for any film, recorded in any way, that is about 2 minutes or less and references Basque culture. The deadline is July 20, and there is a cash prize (1200 euros, which is a lot more dollars!). So, if you are at all interested, check out this announcement for more information.
Slight redesign
I’ve made a slight redesign of the boxes on the right sidebar. Nothing dramatic, just a subtle change. The big differences are that the poll is a new format and the webnote list is gone. I’m not sure anyone cared about the webnote list. If removing that is something people care strongly about, let me know. And I hope that the new poll is “new and improved”.
Changes to Buber’s Basque Page
Kaixo!
In a change that I hope that both is relatively transparent but at the same time makes both administering and using this site that much better, I’ve made the front page of Buber’s Basque Page a blog, using WordPress. I hope that this makes posting new items a bit easier for me, so I do it more often. It will also allow visitors to post comments on the items I post, increasing the overall usefulness of the site.
I’m trying to make sure nothing is broken, but I’m sure there are things. If you see anything broken, please let me know.
Eskerrik asko,
Blas