Bertsularis in the Northern Basque Country

You will be accompanied throughout this site by improvisers. During your visit: click on their photos to discover what they have to say.

"After the death of Iriarte, Mattin became my regular companion, or perhaps it was the opposite. It depended!

I wasn’t always very at ease improvising with Mattin. We didn’t do things the same way. I was no good at making people laugh. Even though I inevitably tried, it never really worked. On the other hand, this was one of Mattin’s trump cards. I myself laughed on more than one occasion listening to his retorts.

Luckily, I quickly learnt that it was better not to be offended by him. Otherwise, that’s too bad for you: he took delight in seeing you hurt and this only made him continue. So, the only solution was to start laughing yourself.

Apart from that, Mattin is more than anything a good pleasant man. We, his friends, all loved him".

"We all have these types of references.

At the end of the day, improvisation comes from what we ourselves heard or what we admired and remembered, and which remains within us.

Also, there’s no doubt that we all create our own mark, but in this creative process, I’m convinced that we all try, even if unconsciously, to imitate those models who we respect and admire"

THE DUO WITH AMETS ARZALLUS

"We manage to surprise each other more often than you’d think. Improvisation varies greatly according to the context. If you sing the same verses in two different contexts, they may be good in one context, and not so good in the other.

Personally, I don’t sing the same way in a youth club as I do in a church. And that’s what makes it possible to surprise. Amets manages to surprise me in fields which are not his favourites: if he improvises on football, he won’t surprise me because I know that it’s a subject he masters from A to Z. But if he improvises on religion, he’ll certainly surprise me because I know he doesn’t know much about the subject.

It’s like being in a couple, because at the end of the day the art of improvisation is the art of dialogue. And provided there’s continuous dialogue, there are always times when you surprise each other.

We form a couple of improvisers, we perform together regularly, but we’re not the same. Amets and myself are different.

I think that’s the best way to enrich a duo like ours"

"I realised that I didn’t sing in the same way when I sang with another girl. That doesn’t happen very often: in an improvisation session it’s politically correct for there to be a girl, and if she’s from the Northern Basque Country that’s even better. I suppose we could call it positive discrimination. And if that wasn’t the case, perhaps there wouldn’t be any girls performing at all. But, on the other hand, that doesn’t do us service because there’s never a session with three female improvisers, unless if it’s a women’s day, or if it’s a feminist association which has organised the event. Yet when we sing together we realise that we don’t necessarily follow the same established code of humour and we’re not systematically opposed, we’re complementary. For me that’s very rewarding.

In fact, we know more or less what we’re going to give: sensitivity, a little more humanity, perhaps less disputes and arguments, another point of view.

It’s obvious that there are going to be more and more women in the world of improvisation and that the balance between the sexes is going to change. It’s better to anticipate that this is what’s going to happen in order to think about and envisage new paths for exploration. That’s the situation today.

Men know something needs to be changed, but I don’t think they expect a revolution from the girls who are newcomers. I’d like that to happen"

"When I began, I didn’t have a model. We progressed little by little, at our own rhythm. Improvisation was a game for us and a way for us to mutually provoke each other, but without thinking of becoming great improvisers one day.

We knew some improvisers like Egaña and Lizaso, because they’re very good. And the thought crossed our minds: I want to be like …

In improvisation class we studied the improvisations of Xalbador. He was a great improviser because in his verses he expressed both humour and feelings.

We also worked on the improvisations of Bilintx who mostly write love poems.

We worked on improvisations by current bertsolaris too: we read and studied those of Amets Arzallus and Sustrai Colina. They are true models for us because over the last few years they have kept company with the greatest improvisers and they’ve gone a long way in the Basque Country Championship: Sustrai made the final and Amets wasn’t far behind … I do hope he manages at the next championship!"