{"id":7651,"date":"2025-08-17T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-17T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/?p=7651"},"modified":"2026-07-04T17:11:55","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T17:11:55","slug":"basque-fact-of-the-week-the-rock-band-gatibu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/2025\/08\/17\/basque-fact-of-the-week-the-rock-band-gatibu\/","title":{"rendered":"Basque Fact of the Week: The Rock Band Gatibu"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-cyan-bluish-gray-background-color has-background wp-block-paragraph\">One of the best parts of Jaialdi was the music. There were groups wandering the Basque block playing music, more organized acts on the main stage in the middle of the street, and the concert in the arena. Everywhere, people were dancing and singing. One of the bands that played both on the street stage and later in the concert in the arena was Gatibu. I got to see them once when\u00a0I went to Euskadi in 2006\u00a0\u2013 they played the fiesta in Aulesti. It was great to rediscover them \u2013 their music was infectious and easy to dance to. Highly recommended!<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-medium\"><a href=\"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/image-27.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" src=\"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/image-27-300x225.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7652\" srcset=\"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/image-27-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/image-27-1024x768.png 1024w, https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/image-27-768x576.png 768w, https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/image-27.png 1331w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Gatibu playing at the Idaho Central Arena during Jaialdi 2025. Photo by Blas Uberuaga.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gatibu.eus\/\">Gatibu<\/a>, which means\u00a0<em>captive<\/em>\u00a0in Basque, hails from\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/2024\/03\/03\/basque-fact-of-the-week-the-history-of-gernika\/\">Gernika-Lumo<\/a>. They formed in 2000 with Alex Sardui, the front man, and guitarist Haimar Arejita as the original nucleus of the band. The two had collaborated before on a folk album and that collaboration led to Gatibu. They completed the quartet with Mikel Caballero (bass) and Gaizka Salazar on drums. Caballero died in 2024, a few years after leaving Gatibu.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A fun side note \u2013 Haimar\u2019s mother is from\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/2022\/01\/16\/basque-fact-of-the-week-munitibar-arbatzegi-gerrikaitz\/\">Munitibar<\/a>, the same town my dad was from (thanks Pedro for that piece of trivia).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>They released their first album in 2002. Entitled\u00a0<em>Zoramena<\/em>, it received critical acclaim and was a huge hit in the Basque Country. One of the songs on\u00a0<em>Zoramena<\/em>, \u201cMusturrek Sartunde,\u201d received an award for best song of the year.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Over the years, Gatibu has released 10 albums and many of their songs have become classics. In Boise, everyone around us was singing along to their most popular songs, including \u201cBang-bang txik-txiki bang-bang,\u201d, \u201cZeu, zeu, zeu!,\u201d \u201cPailazo,\u201d and \u201cEztanda egin arte.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Gatibu is known for singing in the Bizkaian dialect, particularly the Busturialdean variant. Describing their style, their website says \u201cTheir musical style is basically colorful rock sung in the Biscayan dialect, full of melody and lively. A broad music that has escaped from artistic complexes, which is created by soaking the power of rock with the melody of pop, plus friendship and everyday themes centered on emotions or moods. But although the trunk is rock and pop, it also waters the leaves that the branches that emerge from it give; folk, country and some danceable disco\/funky rhythms also adhere naturally throughout the repertoire.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>As stated on their website, \u201cGatibu looks at the world through the lens of music, addresses music through the lens of rock and roll, looks to the future through the lens of culture, sings to its compatriots through the lens of Basque. What worries us? What do we want to change? Well, let\u2019s go, let\u2019s move, let\u2019s change, the revolution must be joyful, let joy cause tears. Think, dance, feel, dance, move, dance, don\u2019t stand still, free yourself from fear.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Gatibu is also known for their extensive touring. In 2009, in support of their album\u00a0<em>Laino Guztien Gainetik, Sasi Guztien Azpitik<\/em>, they performed 50 concerts all over the Basque Country. In 2012, they performed for the first time outside of the Basque Country, in Barcelona and Ireland.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>This year marks 25 years since Gatibu first got together. It is also the year of their farewell tour. They will give their last performance on December 13, 2025, in Barakaldo.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-cyan-bluish-gray-background-color has-background wp-block-paragraph\">A full list of all of Buber&#8217;s Basque Facts of the Week can be found in the <a href=\"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/basque-fact-of-the-week-archive\/\">Archive<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Primary sources: <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.berria.eus\/kultura\/gatibuk-2025eko-abenduan-emango-dio-amaiera-25-urteko-ibilbideari-kontzertu-erraldoi-batekin_2130518_102.html\">Gatibuk 2025eko abenduan emango dio amaiera 25 urteko ibilbideari, kontzertu erraldoi batekin<\/a><\/em> by I\u00f1igo Astiz, Berria;\u00a0<em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gatibu.eus\/\">Gatibu<\/a><\/em>;\u00a0<em><a href=\"https:\/\/eu.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Gatibu\">Gatibu<\/a><\/em>, Wikipedia<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of the best parts of Jaialdi was the music. There were groups wandering the Basque block playing music, more organized acts on the main stage in the middle of the street, and the concert in the arena. Everywhere, people were dancing and singing. One of the bands that played both on the street stage [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7652,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[836,880,6],"tags":[805,42,191,28,438,103],"class_list":["post-7651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basque-fact-of-the-week","category-fiestas","category-music","tag-bizkaian","tag-boise","tag-gatibu","tag-gernika","tag-jaialdi","tag-music"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/image-27.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2sYNu-1Zp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7651"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7651\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7653,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7651\/revisions\/7653"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}