A selection of bertsus

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".

"I remember an improvisation by Lazkao Txiki, who people often teased because he was single.

The subject given to him during a contest was that every year the San Antonio festival is held in Abadiño, the occasion for men to ask the Saint to give them a wife.

These are the verses improvised by Lazkao Txiki :

Azken aldian nola nabilen
neskarik bildu ezinda
berririk ezin aurkitu eta
lehen neuzkana galdeginda,
nik neska zahar bat eskatzen dizut
egongo zara jakinda
eta zaharrik ez badaukazu 
gaztea ere berdin da

It’s excellent!"

"I love subjects with meaning. For an improviser the problem is not improvising verse, but knowing what to say. The subject must also be capable of touching people.

If you’re asked to talk about Iraq in front of an audience of fifty farmers, it doesn’t matter how good your verses are, the fifty farmers won’t really feel concerned. Because it’s not something they can identify with. But if you’re given a much simpler subject: you’re a farmer and over the last ten years you’ve not stopped demanding a chamber of agriculture … Even if your improvisation is mediocre, you’ll manage to touch those farmers. I’m convinced that this needs to be taken into account in order to have amusing subjects.

We love all subjects which enable us to express ourselves and give our true opinions. Sometimes however, it’s not easy. We live in the Basque Country and with the situation as it is, we know that if we say certain things, we risk hurting certain people. And hurting someone who’s paid to be there is always problematic for any artist.

So you have to weigh your words. In that sense, improvising fiction is more comfortable. Although fiction also has its disadvantages because you sometimes need to sing about ideas which are the opposite of what you really think, and that can also hurt.

I think that the best improvisation sessions are the result of a balance between the two – fiction and reality"

"I’ve always been the only girl in the group, and the youngest. Personally, I’ve never felt discriminated against. But it’s true that it’s a men’s world, with men’s humour and a men’s way of life in a men’s atmosphere.

Men don’t necessarily realise this, and that’s something we need to think about and share with others. I’m convinced we have something new to offer"

"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!"