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PHOTOSGRAPHS |
OSKORRI
DISCOGRAPHY
Oskorri’s first LP comprises ten
traditional tunes based on poems by the never-to-be-forgotten Gabriel Aresti, who was responsible for a revolution in contemporary Basque
literature.
A
first album full of freshness, vitality and spontaneity, offering a new
sound-palette, blending traditional instruments from all over the world.
Setting
the poems of the great Beñat Etxepare to music in 1977, Oskorri achieved a more solid and
complex album than before, offering unusual Baroque arrangements.
Several
traditional dance tunes are found on this album as well as ten songs by the
band.
A double
album, low-key and tranquil. Less
sophisticated than the one before, it is more profound and deeply felt.
A
wide-ranging, open and hetrogenous work.
In addition to traditional songs and dances it includes self-penned
songs and experiments with ‘bertsolarismo’.
The
band had already reached maturity and made great use of the tone colours of
their various instruments. They
achieved a distinctive, settled sound and began a more professional stage of
their career.
In this album they included some of
the songs which could not have been recorded earlier because of censorship.
They recorded the old settings.
Shortly after joining the Elkar
label they recorded their most polished and technically accomplished album to
date.
The
band now began to play more universal music without losing touch with their
roots.
Folk Freak – Pläne issued Oskorri’s best-known
songs in newly recorded versions. In view of the album’s very successful
reception Elkar decided to release it in the Basque Country too.
A
wide-ranging work, with music varying from the traditional to the most
experimental, from the profound to the light-hearted.
A
completely open homogenous album with the unifying thread of the Oskorri sound.
A very
new type of recording, as much for its presentation of the most highly-regarded
Basque poets of this generation as for the new compositions by the band.
On
March 21 and 22, 1987, Oskorri celebrated their fifteenth anniversary with a
concert in the Arriaga Theatre in Bilbao. Seventeen songs which went to form a new
double album.
In this record Oskorri returned to the songs and ballads which the audience liked
to sing along to. Nonetheless, it also
contains fast exotic rhythms, reworked popular airs, refreshing songs and even
some humorous pieces.
In 1991 we find the band working to
recover traditional Basque dance tunes.
Seventeen traditional dances adapted to the now typical Oskorri style.
The repertory chosen for this new album, Badok Hamairu, achieved a well-balanced result, running the gamut
from light-hearted and funny songs, through easy to listen to songs, to solid,
profound and moving ballads.
The
band’s fifteenth album. Rich sounds and
a general conception and arrangements close to universal music. The fact that musicians of the stature of Kepa Junkera, Flaco Jimenez and Luis Delgado played on
the album contributed to the overall universal feel.
Once again Oskorri joined
their audience in celebrating another anniversary, 25 songs for 25 years. Recorded live, it represents one of the most
emotional and important moments in the band’s career. Guest musicians from all over Europe took part: Martin Carthy, Niko Etxart, Pedro Guerra, Gwendal, Kepa Junkera, Mikel Laboa, Fermin Muguruza, Liam O’Flynn, Ruper Ordorika, Juan Carlos Perez, Albert Pla, Anton Reixa, Jon Sarasua, Joseba Tapia, Patrick Vaillant and Gabriel Yacoub.
With
new musicians came new airs which revitalised the band. Oskorri,
with Kepa Junkera co-producing, achieve one of their freshest and highest
quality works. Together with Glenn Velez, Michel Bordeleau (La Bottine Souriante), Ivo
Papasov and Faltriqueira they open up new musical paths which lead to their
most universal disc.
With a repertoire based on
Biscayan themes of XIX century, compiled by the well-known bertsolari Xabier
Amuriza, it is a disc created for the celebration, the dance and the
most playful and spontaneous enjoyment;
in some songs it is so free and bold as tender and intimate in others,
but always it is shining.
One
of the successes of this new work is based on live recording sessions at the
studio. It has gifted to the work with an extremely natural and sincere sound,
very closed to live concerts.
Between
the collaborators we emphasize the own coproducer Eliseo Parra, Kepa
Junkera (trikitixa) and the
rythmical tap dance of Michel Bordeleau (La Bottine Souriante)
Preceded of a period of great
creativity, the group bets for a new sonority, derived of the new information
and Luis Lozanos collaboration in the production. Desertore, highlights the
desire of the group to look for the plurality and diversity, supported by the
texts of Unai Elorriaga, Maialen Lujanbio, Harkaitz Cano, Jon Sarasua, Andoni
Egaña and recovering texts of Toribio Etxebarria, Jon Enbeitia and Xabier Isasi
and with the collaboration of Faltriqueira, Eliseo Vine and Leturia among
other, Oskorri is able to complete one of his better works of all the times
that is selected by European journalists as one of the ten better works of the
moment.
O T H E R R E C O R D I N G
P R O J E C T S
Katuen
Testamendua and Marijane Kanta Zan are two albums devoted to children. Almost forgotten children’s songs, together
with new compositions based on texts by Marijane Minaberry
Over the years Natxo de Felipe,
a lover of Basque culture and tradition, has recovered hundreds of traditional songs
which come to light in the new albums of the Pub Ibiltari
Several
members of the band joined the audience in the Arenal in Bilbao for the Fair of
St Thomas in December to perform a selection of songs which later came out on
two discs. One represents the live
concert with audience participation, the other only the instrumental versions
of the songs and both are accompanied by a booklet containing the scores and
lyrics of the songs from the record.
Oskorri joined the people of the town of Urretxu to pay tribute to
one of the universal Basque musicians, Iparragirre. A selection of twenty-three songs make up this album recorded
with the help of the entire town of Urretxu in June, 1999