Music, identity and sharing traditions: a meeting between Quebec and the Basque Country

March 3, 2023 at 9:00 a.m.

Salle Jacques-Hétu – F-3080
Music Department, Université du Québec à Montréal
1440 Saint-Denis, Montréal
Métro Berri-UQAM

As part of the Montreal/New Music Festival 2023, music professionals from Quebec and the Basque Country will be invited to discuss the relationship between musical practice and culture and tradition. This study day will focus on issues of individual and collective identity, language, spirituality and politics. Through lectures, musical performances and a round-table discussion, this meeting will provide an opportunity to reflect on these intersections, with an emphasis on discovering and sharing compositional and performance practices in contemporary Basque and Québécois territories. 

In what ways are artistic and cultural identities negotiated by Basque and Québécois musicians? How do political and linguistic issues in the Basque Country and Québec influence contemporary musical practice? How do musicians see their role in relation to the cultural memories and traditions of their communities? What role do (or should) cultural institutions play in the transmission and preservation of traditional musical practices?

Program

9:00 to 9:10am – Welcome

Ana Sokolović (CRCOC)

9:10 to 10:40am – Lecture session: Music and tradition in Basque Country

Gabriel Erkoreka : "New music in the Basque Country and the presence of traditional music and instruments" (in English)

Iñaki Alberdi : "The instrument as vector of traditional and new creation; the microtonal accordion" (in English)

Miren Iñarga : "The transmission of traditional and new music in Basque structures" (in French)

10:40-11:00am – Coffee break

11:00-11:40am – Lecture-recital: Opera and melody in the Basque language

Maite Arruabarrena (mezzo-soprano) and Miguel Ituarte (piano) 

• • Aita Donostia (1886-1956) – Xarmegarria zira, Oñazez 
  • Jesús Guridi (1886-1961) – Asiko naiz, Ala baita
  • Pablo Sorozabal (1897-1988) – Lotoren lorak
  • Francisco Escudero (1912-2002) – Ttunkurrun kuttuna (de l’opéra “Zigor”) 
  • Félix Lavilla (1928-2013) – Ai Isabel, Isabel, Aldapeko Mariya

11:40am-1:00pm – Lunch and sharing circle (hosted by Eadsé)

1:00pm-2:45pm – Round table:  Québec and Basque Country - Music, identity and sharing traditions - hosted by Daniel Turp

Maite Arruabarrena (Musikene) 

Marie-Annick Béliveau (Chants Libres)

Eadsé (SMCQ) 

Gabriel Erkoreka (Musikene) 

Yon Erkoreka (OQAL) 

Miren Iñarga (Musikene) 

3:00pm- 4:00pm – Concert: Contemporary Basque composers

Miguel Ituarte (piano) 

• Gabriel Erkoreka (1969 -) – 2^e Ballade - Edgar Varèse in memoriam (2019)
• Ramon Lazkano (1968 -) – Laugarren bakarrizketa (2000)
• Félix Ibarrondo (1943 -) – Oviri (1976) & Viento sin valles (2022) *

Iñaki Alberdi (accordéon microtonal)

• Zuriñe F. Gerenabarrena (1965 -) – Luma (2014)
• Gabriel Erkoreka (1969 -) – Basalt (2020)
• Francisco José Domínguez (1993 -) – Eco de las noches (2017)

* Création mondiale

4:00pm – Closing remarks

Marie-Hélène Benoit-Otis (CRCMP)

Organizaing committee

• Aïda Aoun
• Marie-Hélène Benoit-Otis
• Zoey Cochran
• Ana Sokolović
• Eugénie Tessier
• Vicky Tremblay
• Danick Trottier
• Daniel Turp

Coordination committee

• Zoey Cochran
• Émilie Lesage
• Eugénie Tessier
• Vicky Tremblay