The Basque Country, a territory whose external image was until recently absolutely conditioned by the stigma of violence, seeks to project itself to the world through culture. “We have to convince ourselves that culture is what makes us visible in the world,” wrote the poet and novelist Kirmen Uribe. Certainly, the Guggenheim, the San Sebastián International Film Festival or the screening of creators with a universal vocation have become some of the elements with which Euskadi is today associated abroad. The Basque cultural fabric, however, is much more complex and is being renewed in a surprising way.
In the opinion of the director of the Basque Film Library, Joxean Fernández, Basque cinema is experiencing a sweet moment once some dynamics that conditioned its evolution have been broken.
“Firstly, the exodus to Madrid in the eighties and nineties has largely come to a halt. Our filmmakers tend to stay in the Basque Country, although they shoot here and there, and that entails a substantial change. Secondly, the relationship with Basque has changed. Today Basque is clearly a film language, and it is thanks above all to sociological changes. The generation of the Erice, Olea, Ana Díez or Armendariz did not speak Basque. The second generation, that of Alex de la Iglesia, Médem, Urbizu, Calparsoro, Elena Taberna or Bajo Ulloa did not do it either. However, Basque is the language of many of today’s filmmakers, of the Moriarti (Goenaga, Arregi and Garaño), Asier Altuna, Estibaliz Urresola, Lara Izagirre, Telmo Esnal and many others,” he explains.
Joxean Fernández also highlights that Basque cinema “has expanded both in genres and in the places it reaches.” “We see that Isabel Herguera has reached the Official Section of San Sebastián with an author’s animated film and on the platforms we have Alex de la Iglesia with 30 coins or the Moriartis with Balenciaga,” he indicates.
The director of the Basque Film Library cites among the milestones of Basque cinema in recent years “the premiere of Handia, a turning point for cinema in Basque with those ten Goya awards, or the recognition of 20,000 species of bees and O como el last year”. “Seeing Estibaliz Urresola winning in Berlin and Jaione Camborda taking the Golden Shell was very important. The incorporation of women is another characteristic of this boom, although there is still much to do, especially in fiction. We must also take more steps to promote cinema in Basque. In any case, we have seen that Basque cinema is good not only because we say it, but also because they tell us it outside,” he points out.
In the opinion of the director of the Basque Film Library, this growth has come thanks to “talent and courage in creation and production, and also thanks to a series of very well-coordinated institutional policies.” In any case, Fernández warns that it is a very competitive sector “in which there will be no shortage of challenges.”
Regarding the performing arts, the director of the Barakaldo Theater and member of the board of directors of the Euskadi Sarea Theater Network, Ana López, especially highlights the emergence of emerging values, both in theater and dance: “Beyond From the mantra that theater is always in crisis, we see an emergence of young talents on the scene and with a greater presence of women in the creative field. María Goiricelaya is a good example of this trend. And in dance, the same thing happens, with the help of very interesting artists like Olaia Valle.”
Ana López, however, sees a problem when it comes to bringing all that talent to the stage: “There is a gap between the volume of new talent that we see and the capacity in the performing spaces to absorb it. This gap is much more evident in the case of dance. Sometimes we try to fill the theaters with well-known faces from outside, when here we have proposals of the same level or higher. In any case, we observe with satisfaction the arrival of new values ??that will make people talk and we underline the contribution of Dantzerti, the higher school of dramatic arts and dance.”
Karmele Jaio, one of the most recognized writers on the Basque literary scene, detects four dynamics that place Basque literature at an “important moment at the level of creation.” The first is generational in nature and particularly affects literature in Basque: “Several generations coexist, relate and write at the same time, something that is enriching,” he explains. That is to say, the generation of Anjel Lertxundi, Bernardo Atxaga or Arantxa Urretabizkaia has not passed on the baton, but rather shares its privileged place in the literary scene with other generations of writers.
Secondly, Jaio highlights “the greater presence of women writers”, a trend that is very eloquent considering the latest editions of the Euskadi Literature Awards, the most important within the Basque literary panorama, which in 2022 awarded seven female writers in their seven categories. Authors such as Eider Rodríguez, Edurne Portela, Uxua Apaolaza, Txani Rodríguez, Aixa de la Cruz, Uxue Aberdi, Irati Jiménez and Karmele Jaio herself have become great references in Basque literature, both in Basque and Spanish.
Jaio mentions a third characteristic linked to this greater presence of female writers. “This trend has allowed us to change topics and, above all, perspectives, and that has brought greater diversity.” Finally, in the opinion of the Vitorian writer, Basque literature has achieved greater projection. “For some years it seemed that Basque literature, particularly literature in Basque, remained with Atxaga or Kirmen Uribe, just as was the case with Galician literature, which was associated only with Rivas. Now, it is seen that there is much more interest from publishers, who publish and translate us more,” she explains. Karmele Jaio herself has been translated into a dozen languages, she publishes outside the Basque Country with Destino and in a few days she will visit Sant Jordi.
In versularism, as in written literature, one can also appreciate this generational change, a diversification of themes and a growing weight of women, trends to which we should add the greater urban component and the success of the public at major events. , shows that bring together thousands of people.
In the musical field, focusing primarily on popular music, the Basque music scene is experiencing an incipient transformation that has been perceived in a particular way since the pandemic. The hegemony of rock, punk and metal, which had a lot to do with what happened in the Basque scene in the eighties and nineties, has given way to a diversification of genres brought about by a generational change.
The tip of the iceberg of the Basque music scene is made up of bands capable of filling halls such as Zetak, Izaro, Bulego or ETS, which next year will fill the Bilbao Exhibition Center for three days. However, in recent years there has been an emergence of groups that move in a more underground environment and that are forming an interesting and eclectic scene, from the fierce pop-rock of Merina Gris to the urban styles of Hofe or Bengo, among other proposals.
“Basque music, and music in Basque, is totally present in the world square, in tune with everything that happens. It has been renewed and there is a very interesting panorama, with very sincere and authentic musical proposals,” explains Maialen Goirizelaia, professor of Audiovisual Communication at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU).
As for classical music, the director of the San Sebastian Musical Fortnight, Patrick Alfaya, considers that Euskadi is in a “moment of expectant stability”, with an eye toward the “increasingly necessary renewal of the public.” In his opinion, the Basque Country must take advantage of strengths such as an “investment in training that must translate into the development of particular artistic initiatives” or the promotion of an “attractive and quality choral movement.” In the field of classical music, the two Basque symphony orchestras also deserve particular attention: the Euskadiko Orkestra and the BOS (Bilbao Orkestra Sinfonikoa).
In the fine and visual arts, one has to take into account, on the one hand, the constellation of museums formed by the Guggenheim, the Bilbao Museum of Fine Arts, Artium (Vitoria), Chillida Leku, San Telmo or Tabakalera, even Beatriz Hérraez , director of Artium Museoa, remarks that “other fundamental spaces of different scale or the galleries and independent projects such as Dinamoa, Azala, kinu/Atoi, Zas, Okela or bulegoa z/b” should not be forgotten.
Furthermore, Hérraez highlights the proposals of artists to whom Artium has dedicated exhibitions in recent years such as “Esther Ferrer, Ibon Aranberri, Itziar Okariz, Juan Luis Moraza, Txaro Arrazola, Gema Intxausti, June Crespo, Xabier Salaberria, Erlea Maneros Zabala , Sahatsa Jauregi, Nerea Lekuona or Josu Bilbao.” “I leave out many names, although I would also stop at the generation of authors who work with cinema and the moving image; Laida Lertxundi, Ainara Elgoibar, Maddi Barber, Irati Gorostidi, Marina Lameiro and Mirari Echavarri, among others.” For this reason, Hérraez considers that Basque art is experiencing “an excellent moment.”
A diagnosis that, even at the risk of falling into complacency, could be extended to most sectors and that invites us to update the references that are associated with the culture created in the Basque Country, where new generations have taken over. .