The History of Improvisation

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

"Sung mass was also held during the week, and I used to sing to accompany the priest. I took great pleasure in doing this because at that time I enjoyed singing.

I found it easy to learn church hymns, although I didn’t understand what I was singing because everything was in Latin. Later on, I became interested in Basque songs.

I learnt some of them from my shepherd friends, but mostly from copies collected here or there. Most of them were given to me by my aunt Mariana. This is how I learnt many Basque songs.

Sometimes I even hummed away to tunes amongst my sheep. They also seemed to appreciate my singing.

Behind the songs, writers … Then I began to think that someone was behind these magnificent songs and I even learnt that they were called improvisers.

I found this astonishing and difficult to believe because I didn’t think that I had such a talent.

I was fascinated by the thought of these mysterious characters"

"When I was a child, I didn’t have a model, except for my father. Later on, at the age of 13 or 14, I began to realise that I had a preference for a certain type of versification, and I began to know what direction I wanted to take.

Since then, whenever I’m asked who’s my favourite improviser I answer: Jose Agirre. My father felt very close to him, because they both came from the same background. We, on the other hand, were born in towns and for us Jose Agirre is the opposite of our own experience: he was brought up in a farming environment, in the countryside, he began to work at a very early age …

He had other references, and you can see that in the way he improvises. To my mind, he’s a model because his language was rich and full of  colourful expressions, and because he represents a world which is the opposite of our own"

"When I was small, I wanted to be a pelota player. I hardly realised that it was even possible to become an improviser.

Afterwards, you begin to think that you could be a improviser, you try to understand the talent of others, and you have a certain admiration for them. Then your turn comes when you are standing alongside those who you admired, and they even become your friends. We saw all of this.

This was the case with Joxe Agirre, who’s 75 years old and still an improviser. You discover who they really are and you admire them even more. When you go to a village with this figure, this symbol, you’re surprised to see how humble they are, and that they’re always ready to help you.

It’s an incredible chance to be able to meet such figures. This is also the case of Andoni Egaña, three times champion, an unrivalled theoretician, an enlightened and innovative improviser and a forerunner, but who, when he’s sat at a table with you, is just one amongst you.

There are great lessons to be learnt from these meetings"

"My father, and above all my grandfather, were very fond of improvisation. When I was 9 or 10 I began to take improvisation classes, which at that time were organised by Jexux Arzallus.

At the age of 12 Amets Arzallus and I went to classes in Oiartzun. But after several years we stopped going there and the teacher from Oiartzun came to Hendaye. That’s how we created a new group in Hendaye. It almost feels like I was born knowing how to improvise. I know that’s not the case, but it’s the impression I have.

I actually decided that I enjoyed improvisation when I was 16, when I realised that I couldn’t do everything: dance, drama, music, improvisation and pelota. When it came to the crunch, I realised that if there was one thing I really didn’t want to give up, it was improvisation. From that time on I think that I accepted it more easily.

I’m convinced that it’s the people, the group that makes you stay … because it’s not easy when you’re young. Not many of us were improvisers, few girls, and the group got smaller.

I think that today things are easier. There are more groups, and improvisation is encouraged more.”

"I acquired a taste for improvisation when the ikastola (Basque-medium school) in Bayonne opened a class. I was in CM2 (10-11 years old) and we were only a small group. From then on, I’ve always continued. Karlos Aizpurua was our teacher.

I must admit that in the beginning I was pushed by my mother, but afterwards, I realised that improvisation enabled me to learn many things. Also, it was something new, and it was a change from usual activities like football or pelota.

When the improvisation schools got off the ground, we met outside lesson time for an hour a week with Karlos Aizpurua as our teacher. Then I attended to high-school in Cambo and there, a new group was set up: there were a few of us from the Lycée in Bayonne, others came from inland in the Basque Country.

At present there are five of us, four boys and one girl. In the beginning, there were more of us, simply because some left. Improvisation is not everyone’s cup of tea"