Basque by Curt Fritts

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Basque

Published on Mar 22, 2019

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An oral tradition of the Basque people

Both a traditional folk music connected to Basque country (Euskadi) as well as a more broad modern music
Uses a number of unique woodwind and percussion instuments
A strong choral singing tradition rooted in oral history more than surrounding Romance languages

A difficult double clarinet played in a circular breathing technique

A specialized Basque percussion instrument

A Basque folk recorder comes from the word "whistle"

A double-reed instrument in the oboe family

Isolated in the Western Pyrenees, on the coast of the Bay of Biscay

Basque tradition is heavily influenced as a geographical "crossroads"
Cultured widely influenced by historical connections
While some rural folk instruments go back more than six centuries, others have been introduced by outside cultures as recently as the 20th

A network of pilgrimage paths to the Santiago de Campostela

Unrelated to Indo-European languages - a "language isolate"
Basque music and language has mostly been preserved through oral transmission
Only recently, have these traditions been written down
Beyond that music had spiritual and cultural significance in everyday life - very little is known about origins of sound