Improvised Poetry & Song in the Basque Country

IMPROVISED POETRY & SONG IN THE BASQUE COUNTRY

History and development

Competitions and championships
Masters of improvisation
Becoming a bertsulari
Basque Country Improvisation Championship 2009

Partners :

Aquitaine BNSA
EJGV

Basic technique

Improvisation has its own specific conditions and characteristics: improvising, coordinating music and words, singing in front of an audience, etc. During improvisation, bertsularis use the techniques of rhetoric characterised in this case by the rapidity of their use.
Le champion Egaña et le jeune bertsulari Sustrai Colina en retrait - Andoni Egaña bertsuka eta Sutrai Colina beha...

Bertsularis also use poetic techniques with the particularity that they must compose verses from the end to the start: the final line of the verse is the basis for the rest of the verse.

The way a verse is created depends a lot on the context in which the improviser is performing (presence or not of a master of ceremonies).

To put it simply, let us take the example of a competition during which a master of ceremonies imposes the following subject on a bertsulari: ‘‘Who is the bell tolling for?’’ and the rhythm for improvisation: ‘‘Zortziko handia’’.

The bertsulari must in just a few seconds:

Choose the melody which will be adapted to the rhythm imposed

Find words which rhyme

Decide on the content of the verse

 

For further details visit the site of our partner, the "Xenpelar" improviser resource centre


 

 

EUSKAL KULTUR ERAKUNDEA - INSTITUT CULTUREL BASQUE

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The guides

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