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ALIA VOX DIVERSA After more than 20 successive years of recordings released under the Alia Vox label, and with 127 albums to our credit, we are delighted to present a new recording by Enrike Solinís and his Euskal Barrokensemble in the collection Alia Vox Diversa that we launched four years ago with a previous album by Enrike Solinís. This new programme celebrating the five-hundredth anniversary of the great Basque navigator Juan Sebastián Elcano’s first round-the-world voyage immerses us in the fascinating evocation of a thousand-year-old maritime culture of which Elcano is one of the most illustrious representatives. Thanks to an eloquent choice of music from different periods reflecting the diverse origins and cultures encountered on the expeditions undertaken in that unique adventure, we evoke an epic enterprise which marked the beginning of the modern age. Once again, Enrike Solinís and his Euskal Barrokensemble successfully combine all the features that we envisaged for this Alia Vox Diversa collection: the rediscovery of forgotten repertories, such as those of the ancient Basque musical tradition and the other cultures that it embraced or shared as it ventured into the immense maritime expanses of a new world, and a range of songs, dances, variations and re-creations performed with respect for the traditions and historical practices of the Renaissance and the incipient Baroque. Let us listen to this wonderful music and these enchanting songs and, thanks to the talent and sensitivity of the singers and musicians of Euskal Barrokensemble, let us recapture the essence of the ancient Basque Country’s musical culture through the abundant vitality and emotion of these musical gems.

JORDI SAVALL New Haven, 26th February, 2019

Translated by Jacqueline Minett

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1435 The Gypsies arrive in the Basque Country 7. Buselik asirani – Dimitrie Cantemir 3’18 15th century: Basque Country: The coming together of Christians, Jews and Muslims 8. Loa loa - Traditional Basque 4’27 9. Recited Muwashshaha – Abu al-Abbas Ahmad the “Blind Poet of Tudela”, 12th century 0’44 10 Muwashshaha– Abu al-Abbas Ahmad, 12th century / F. Atlan / E. Solinís 3’41 11. Si la douleur de mon esprit – Marguerite of Navarre (1492-1549) 1’34 12. Pavane, Gaillarde & Branle de Champagne – Claude Gervaise (1525-1583) 4’46 1487 Getaria, birth of Juan Sebastián Elcano 13. Une batez– Judah ha-Levi (Tudela c. 1070/75-Jerusalem c. 1141) 1’00 14. Efthah’ na séfathay / Maitia nun zira – Jewish religious song / Traditional Basque 3’17 15. Verrus – Traditional Basque 1’32

A global shift: From the Mediterranean to the Atlantic 16. Arratiako dantzak – Traditional from Vizcaya 2’11 17. Dos ánades, Madre – Johanes Antxieta (1462-1523) 2’31 16th century: Pishonerak; Women of the Port 18. Dindirindín. Ensalada La Bomba – Mateo Flecha (1481-1553) 3’18 19. Amorosen partizia – Bernat Etxepare (c. 1480-1545) 2’46 20. Pabanea – Osborn Manuscript Collection 16th century 2’17 1519 Seville: The Expedition of Ferdinand Magellan 21. Santa Maria, strela do dia – (Prison song). Popular Andalusian 2’53 22. Quid est tibi / Mare vidit – Michael Navarrus (Pamplona, 1563-1627) 1’25

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CD 1 Millenary Vasconia: A Maritime Country 1. Introduction 0’46 2. Seikilos’s Epitaph – Anonymous 2’03 3. Ale, arraunean – Traditional Basque 3’22 12th century: Benjamin of Tudela’s book The Travels of Benjamin ןימינב תועסמ 4. Bashraf jahargah – Darwish Mustapha, 16th century – Text Pío Baroja 4’16 5. Raiko – Traditional dance from Macedonia 1’36 6. Gurmak itsasoan – Liturgical song / Theobald of Navarre 4’29

The First Voyage Round the World

JUAN SEBASTIAN ELCANO Songs and dances in the Golden Age of Basque sailing

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1526 Final expedition to the Moluccas and Elcano’s testament 11. Sumba Song – Traditional Malayo-Polynesian song 1’40 12. Elcano’s testament - Salve Regina – Martínez de Bizcargui (1480-1540) 2’26 13. Psalm 6: Jauna, ez nazazula korregi – Traditional Basque / J. Haranburu 3’36 14. Tiento para órgano – Luis Alberto de Gómez, 16th century 1’48 On the trail of the Basque sailors: Songs that have crossed the ocean and back 15. Letter to Philip II – Lope de Agirre, 1561 1’35 16. Le Biscayenne – Traditional / Marin Marais 1’17 17. Jota – Manuscritos de Cortabarria, 17th century 2’07 18. Aista binakoa – R.M. de Azkue’s Songbook. Traditional Basque sailors’ song 1’57 Mi’kmaq and Basque whalers meet 19. Mi’kmaq Honour Song – George Paul / Traditional Basque 7’30

1536 The 2nd circumnavigation of the world: Andrés de Urdaneta 20. Nork orain esan lezake – Villancico. Anonymous Basque, 17th century 2’28 21. My Lady Carey’s Dompe – Anonymous, 16th century 3’48 1615 Slaying of the Basques and Vocabula Biscaia 22. Marteinn af Frakkaþorpi – Traditional Icelandic-Basque 4’39 Cider: The Elixir of Life 23. Aldapeko – Traditional Basque 2’10 Basque Diaspore: The eighth province 24. Portutxoa fandangoa – Joxean Artze / Traditional Basque 2’47

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1521 Strait of Magellan and Magellan’s death at the Battle of Mactan 23. Journal of Pigafetta 1’58 24. Itsasoa laino dago – Traditional Basque 3’40 25. Pavane – Pierre Attaignant (1494-1552) 2’54 26. Letter from Elcano to Charles V – Arrival in the Moluccas Islands 0’57 27. Lagu togal – Traditional from the Moluccas Islands 2’58

CD 2 1522 Primus circundedisti me 1. Letter from Elcano. Sanlúcar de Barrameda 0’58 2. Ayo visto lo Mappamundi – Popular Sicilian, 16th century 2’55 1534 Ignatius of Loyola & Francis Xavier: The Society of Jesus 3. Mundu zabalera – 12th century music. Lyrics by Xabier Amuriza (1941-) 2’33 4. Baile a 2: A lo Alto y a lo Llano – Traditional Castilian-Basque 3’40 Masquerade: Remnants of a Ritual 5. Marche de Courteges – Traditional Basque 2’18 6. Danse des Kherestonak – Traditional Basque 2’54 7. Recitation Neska ontziratua – Traditional Basque / Robert Ballard (c.1572-c.1650) 1’44 8. Neska ontziratua –Traditional Basque / Robert Ballard 3’34 Elcano is granted a coat of arms by Emperor Charles V 9. 2nd letter from Elcano to Charles V – 1522 1’02 10. Round dance: Marinero de la Mar and A lo Llano – Cancionero de Olmeda (Burgos) 5’04



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25. Nere vizi gucico galdu nai – Villancico. Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1651-1695) 0’54 26. Fandango – Santiago de Murcia (1673-1739) 3’25 27. Kama goli – In the Erromintxela language, Jon Mirande 1’19 28. El Gineo – Manuscritos de Cortabarria, 17th century 2’01

Programme concept, adaptation of the pieces and production: Miren Zeberio and Enrike Solinís


Pablo Martín Caminero Foto: Nomad Studio


Pilgrim’s Way of St. James, it was a magnet for diverse cultures and a meeting-point for different worlds. Tudela, for example, was the birthplace and centre for outstanding Muslim and Jewish writers, as well as a major trading and shipbuilding city during the 12th-15th centuries, when the River Ebro was navigable as far as the sea. For all these reasons, it is important to study and observe these cultures and their traditions today and to recognize how much we are reflected in them, to communicate directly with them and to enjoy the whole process. One of the most important changes in the passage from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance, as witnessed by Elcano, was the shift in trading and cultural dominance from the Mediterranean axis to the Atlantic, which became the epicentre of transoceanic voyages and trade routes. The Basques played a decisive role in that new conception of the world. Whale hunting, in which they excelled and were pioneers, forced them to develop groundbreaking naval engineering skills and to become leaders in a manufacturing industry that led them to plough the oceans and pursue the boldest maritime adventures ever seen. They established trading relations with peoples of other continents such as the First Nations of North America and the inhabitants of Iceland and Sweden. The history of the Basque people and the path towards the first circumnavigation of the Earth that marked the beginnings of globalization are therefore inseparable from that centuries-old naval and maritime history. That early globalization of the planet, with challenges similar to those we see today, unleashed a struggle to dominate the world. In some cases, far from fostering a global spirit, it emphasized differences in response to the danger of individual and genuine being swallowed up by the global. We should not forget that at that time submission to the idea of dominium mundi, or universal dominion, underwent a qualitative shift: human beings, as God’s creation, acquired a new voice through their quest for knowledge and adventure, resolute in their pursuit of intellectual advancement. The Renaissance’s understanding of the oceans, for example, transcended the Medieval worldview’s fear of the unknown as something demoniacal, instead perceiving the maritime world as a realm whose mysteries could be –and in fact were– conquered by nautical prowess. Moreover, the music and instruments that we find in remote places such as Indonesia clearly point to the human interaction resulting from the intense contacts forged in the Renaissance, and to the influence of the music and

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For those of us who are lucky enough to have been able to travel in space and time with Jordi Savall as members of his ensembles and to learn from each of his projects, launching a new programme with the figure of the outstanding Basque navigator Juan Sebastián Elcano to guide us on a musical journey through his world and his times is a congenial task. The premise is clear and the principle is a simple one: music is the quintessential universal language, which has united remote peoples through the ages, as it still does today. The same man who, 500 years ago, took part in an expedition commanded by Ferdinand Magellan to find the Spice Islands for the Crown of Castile, and who despite having established a landmark in universal history by circumnavigating the Earth, is nowadays unknown in much of the world, and yet provides us with a perspective on the past which enhances our enjoyment and understanding of the present. The Basque maritime culture to which Elcano was heir has brought us into contact with other peoples since time immemorial, and it has also acquainted us with their songs, dances and music. It is difficult to track down the influences in the north of the Iberian Peninsula of the Hellenic peoples from the East, the Celts and the Vikings from northern Europe, but we share instruments, allegories and musical forms with all those peoples with whom we have had dealings thanks to the sea. Like many other peoples, we Basques have been pagans, Jews, Muslims, Christians… and all these religions have made their mark, shaping us into what we are today. Because of the Basque Country’s location as the real gateway from Al-Andalus to Europe and vice versa, as well as being a stage on the

Re-discovering Elcano



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instruments carried over the ocean by thousands of sailors and slaves who were forcibly and inhumanly transported from one continent to another, for whom music and dance were a means of surviving amid such great injustice. In this project, therefore, Euskal Barrokensemble returns to its origins as a music group, telling our story in the first person and taking the opportunity on the 500th anniversary of the first circumnavigation of the Earth to recall that global connectedness, as illustrated in the life of Juan Sebastián Elcano, is the essence of our plural nature as human beings. VIVI FELICE.

MIREN ZEBERIO and ENRIKE SOLINÍS Tolosa, December 2018



La nave Victoria a su llegada a Sevilla (1522). Grabado de 1726, coloreado. ©Album / Prisma


the same purpose in different parts of the world, Azkue suggested that it was related to sailors’ songs from the Nile - a controversial idea which is, at the very least, interesting and worth taking into consideration. 4. Bashraf jahargah – Darwish Mustapha, 16th century. Text by Pío Baroja (1872-1956), Basque Country, 1953 Basque seafarers sailed all over the known world, as attested by various commercial records from Bruges dating from around 1200, and in the 12th century traveller Benjamin of Tudela’s The Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela: Book of Travels, which mentions merchant ships from maritime Navarre at the Egyptian port of Alexandria. 5. Raiko – Traditional dance from Macedonia Among the peoples who travelled across the sea were those of Alexander the Great’s Macedonian Empire. From ancient times, the influence of myths and characters such as the sirens, originating in Hellenic cultures, has brought us into contact with Eastern lands. 6. Gurmak itsasoan – Religious melody from Álava c. 12th century / Theobald of Navarre: Manuscrit du Roi, 12th century / Traditional lyrics One of the characteristics of troubadour music, including compositions by King Theobald of Navarre, is its syllabic nature. It makes liberal use of contrafacta, sometimes adopting the music of previously existing pieces (as well as imitating the metre of the verses), a phenomenon which has occurred repeatedly throughout the history of music. As a count of French origin, Theobald had a music chapel like those of the surrounding kingdoms, and he most likely used polyphony in his own songs. By contrast, Gregorian music was more melismatic, like the beginning of this piece which comes from an anonymous 12th century manuscript from the Basque Country. In keeping with these Medieval techniques, we offer various old refrains in Basque which express the forebodings, fears and misfortunes of the mothers and daughters of sailors as they wait for their loved ones to return home, praying and imploring the forces of nature for clemency. The quantity and sentiments of the refrains on this theme reflect the harshness of the seafaring life and its importance in our country over hundreds and hundreds of years.

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CD1

1. Introduction 2. Seikilos’s Epitaph – Anonymous Seikilos’s Epitaph is part of a Greek inscription written on a marble column of the tomb that Seikilos built for his wife Euterpe near Tralleis (in Asia Minor), some 30 km from the coastal city of Ephesus (in Turkey), dating approximately from the 1st century. The Romans drew on Greek culture to assimilate learning in all areas of knowledge, including music. The inclusion of the Basques in the Rome’s trading networks had a major impact, serving to boost the Basque culture and economy. The sea thus became the means of uniting the Basque territories and the economic, administrative and political structure of the vast Roman Empire. This led directly to cultural relations between what are now the Basque territories and the Mediterranean world. 3. Ale, arraunean – Traditional Basque Until the beginning of the 20th century, this ancient traditional Basque song collected by Resurrection Maria de Azkue was one of the songs sung by Basque sailors to set their rowing pace, synchronising the rhythm of the oar strokes in their arduous daily task. Very similar in melodic structure and musical form to many other songs serving

MILLENARY VASCONIA A maritime land



remember, the River Ebro was navigable as far as the sea, thus providing a direct route for relations between the Basque territories and the Mediterranean. 11. Si la douleur de mon esprit – Marguerite of Navarre (1492-1549) Marguerite of Angoulême, Queen of Navarre, was a leading intellectual of the Renaissance whose tolerance, cultural preeminence, sensibility and eagerness to promote all the scientific, poetic, philosophical and religious movements of her day has led many historians to regard her as “the Médici of the French Renaissance”. The author of books such as the Heptameron, she made the Kingdom of Navarre a hub for the leading intellectual concerns of Renaissance Europe, creating a cultural atmosphere which had no equal in any other European kingdom and which years later was to inspire no less a figure than the dramatist William Shakespeare. Here we present a poem in which she expresses sorrow at her brother, King François I of France’s captivity in Madrid. 12. Pavane, Gaillarde & Branle de Champagne – Claude Gervaise (1525-83) Claude Gervaise was a composer and music publisher who worked in Paris as Pierre Attaignant’s assistant in the first half of the 16th century. His dance music broadly reflects courtly and popular music, and he draws on folk melodies to embellish his works. 13. Une batez – Judah ha-Levi (Tudela c. 1070/75-Jerusalem c. 1141) Born in Tudela, he was one of the finest Hispano-Jewish poets, the inventor of the sionid (“Songs of Zion”) genre, in which he expressed his yearning for distant Jerusalem; his poetic work encompasses both the religious and the secular. 14. Efthah’ na séfathay / Maitia nun zira – Jewish religious song / Traditional Basque 15. Verrus – Traditional from Ochagavía Christmas carol from Ochagavía, a village in the Pyrenees. The verrus is a little-known song that children sing from house to house in euskera salacenco (the Basque dialect spoken in the Salazar Valley), dressed in the

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7. Buselik asirani – Dimitrie Cantemir The earliest texts mentioning gypsies in “Euskal Herria” (the oldest documented name for the Basque Country) date from the 15th and 16th centuries: 1435 in Nafarroa, 1483 in Lapurdi, 1484 in Álava, 1510 in Guipúzcoa, and 1517 in Vizcaya. By comparing these documents with other European texts from the same period, it is possible to put forward the hypothesis that this was the time of their arrival. From the time of their departure from India until their arrival in the Basque Country, and considering that their principal occupations included dancing and music, the gypsies conveyed and transmitted musical influences and features of all the lands through which they travelled over the centuries. In so doing, they introduced nuances and characteristics which persist in the Basque cultural heritage up to the present day, contributing their own distinctive outlook: a direct line introducing the musical qualities of Eastern countries into the Basque folk tradition. 8. Loa loa – Traditional Basque The task of transmitting Sephardic music within the family normally fell to the women, while religious singing was basically reserved for the men. The music created by Jews living in the Basque Country has given us examples of possibly the loveliest and most enchanting melodies in the traditional Basque repertory. The influence of Arab music on our songs is largely in the form of love songs and lullabies in the vernacular, in our case the Basque language, resulting in a wonderful ancestral blending of our language with the cultures that it encountered on its path. 9-10. Muwashshaha – Abu al-Abbas Ahmad, the “Blind Poet of Tudela”, 12th century / F. Atlan / E. Solinís The Blind Poet of Tudela, whose work is widely known today in Oriente, in Cairo, Beirut and Baghdad, was a master in the composition of muwashshas, a poetic form which was intimately associated with music during the Andalusí period, as these poems were written to be sung or recited to the accompaniment of instrumental music. Second only to love, the praise of wine is undoubtedly the subject which best and most frequently inspires the Blind Poet, recurring time and time again in his verses. During the Middle Ages, his native city of Tudela in the Kingdom of Navarre was, as well as a world-class cultural centre and home to many illustrious figures in Arab, Jewish and Christian culture, a major trading and shipbuilding centre. During the 12th – 15th centuries, we should



Vasconum Primitiae (Origins of the Basque Language). It is considered half-way between King Alfonso the Wise’s Cantigas and the Archpriest of Hita’s Libro del Buen Amor. Uninhibited in his treatment of the theme of amorous relations and without a trace of platonic love, the author is a far cry from the ideal courtly lyrics of Medieval Europe. 20. Pabanea – Osborn Collection, MS13, 16th century Manuscript with original music for lute and gittern, found in a little volume together with a large number of cookery recipes. The gittern was an instrument similar to the rabel (a rustic folk fiddle), used both in the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance, which was commonly taken on ocean voyages, thanks to its small size. Like the guitar, it became a supreme conveyor of musical ideas between distant regions of the world. 21. Santa María, strela do día – (Prison song). Popular Andalusian melody The lack of a livelihood led the gypsies of Andalusia to prefer spending nights in prison rather than than being exposed to the elements. From there, they regaled passers-by with hymns in honour of the Virgin Mary, asking her for her blessing on their behalf and receiving alms in return, thus generating a good source of income. The song we perform here has links with both Andalusia and Portugal, featuring vibrato and melismas which link us to the music of Portugal and Castile. Among the most ancient titles of the Virgin Mary, “Our Lady of the Sea” and “Star of Day” or “Morning Star” reflect the need of sailors and their families to call on the highest protection in heaven, just as in the darkness of night, sailors relied on the stars to guide them on their way. On 20th September, 1519, before the expedition set sail, the whole crew went ashore as usual to attend Mass at the church of Nuestra Señora de Barrameda and to commend themselves to Holy Mary, the Star of Day, that she might guide them on their voyage. 22. Quid est tibi / Mare vidit – Michael Navarrus (Pamplona, 1563-1627) Miguel de Echarren y Navarro, a brilliant chapel master at the cathedrals of Pamplona and Calahorra at the end of the 16th century and beginning of the 17th century, was a confirmed polyphonist who composed in a clearly Renaissance style and left a large volume of vocal music.

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traditional costume known as the traje de casero, including a short goatskin cape, and carrying makilas (long wooden sticks). After singing the carol from house to house, the children take a collection of money. The verrus is a clear example of how religious songs migrated from within the church precincts to the world outside and how, in later stages of its development, the religious text is freely adapted and becomes part of the secular folk repertory, of which countless examples are to be found in the Basque songbook. 16. Arratiako dantzak – Traditional from Vizcaya Two traditional Basque sung dances from the Valley of Arratia, usually performed on traditional instruments such as the alboka and the tambourine. Based on the melodic system of D, which is so typical of music from the north of the Iberian Peninsula and possibly influenced by the music of French-speaking troubadours, the preservation of this music connects us with the ancient music and traditions of distant lands. 17. Dos ánades, madre – Juan de Anchieta (1462-1523) / Traditional Basque The quinary rhythms that are found throughout the northern half of the Iberian Peninsula are mirrored in Anchieta’s polyphonic works. His melodies recall many others found in later folk collections, such as the Iztueta songbook. 18. Ensalada La Bomba – Mateo Flecha (1481-1553) Mateo Flecha, whose La Bomba features a guitar player called Gil Piçarra tuning his instrument, uses the onomatopeic words dendén and dindirindín, which are frequently used in the songbooks, as in this ensalada, to imitate madrigalistically the sound of the 4-string guitar, an instrument whose small size made it a regular companion on sea voyages. Strumming was the only technique known to most guitarists and, much to the exasperation of the 16th century music theorist Fr. Juan Bermudo and Flecha himself, the instrument was used exclusively to accompany songs and dance tunes, or what Bermudo referred to as “old ballads and “struck music”. 19. Amorosen partizia – Bernat Etxepare (Bernat Dechepare), c. 1480-1545, Linguae Vasconum Primitiae Bernat Etxepare, (Sarrasquette, France, c.1480-1545), was a priest and writer from Navarre, the author of the first known literary work in the Basque language. His only book, printed in Bordeaux in 1545, is entitled Linguae



CD2

1. Letter from Elcano. Sanlúcar de Barrameda 2. Ayo visto lo Mappamundi – Popular Sicilian, 16th century 3. Mundu zabalera – Music, 13th century. Lyrics by Xabier Amuriza (1941-) Bertsolarism is defined as rhyming sung discourse with a specific metre. However, the tune, rhyme and metre are merely technical aspects of the bertso. According to experts, “The quality of the bertso is gauged in terms of its logical argument and in its poetic and rhetorical merit”. Springing from a spontaneous oral literature, bertsolarism long predates any written manifestation of the Basque language. As an oral art form, it has similarities to the improvised sean-nós of Ireland, the payada of the Southern Cone countries (Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay), the trovo of the Alpujarras (Granada, Spain), and Cuba’s repentismo. This type of “dialectic discussion” follows a pattern present in a great many cultures, being found in the Asian tradition, in the Greek and Roman cultures, and in the history of the Mediterranean Muslim world. 4. Baile a 2: A lo Alto y a lo Llano – Traditional Castilian-Basque Songs accompanied on the rabel are among the most charming and authentic musical expressions that can still be heard in some parts of the northern mountainous regions of the Iberian Peninsula. The rhythmic bowing of the rabel recalls the poetic rhythms mentioned in very old manuscripts and texts, providing a direct link to the age-old relationship between dance and song. The original instrument used was the analogous arrabita, no longer found in the Basque Country, although its continuing presence in neighbouring territories such as Burgos and Cantabria enables us to imagine, hear and rediscover how this thoroughly genuine and attractive musical performance must have sounded.

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23. Pigafetta’s Journal On Wednesday 28th November, 1520, we came out of the said strait and entered the Pacific Sea. We went for three months and twenty days without taking on any kind of provisions. We ate biscuit, or rather, what was no longer biscuit, but biscuit dust consisting of handfuls of grubs, for the grubs had eaten the best of it, and it stank of rats’ urine. And we drank water that was yellow and had been stagnant for many days. We also ate the ox hides covering the lateen to prevent it from breaking the rigging; they were tough from exposure to the sun, rain and wind. After leaving them in the sea for four or five days, we put them on the embers for a while and ate them; we also often ate sawdust, as well as rats, which were sold for a half ducat each, and we would gladly have had more of them. But our worst misfortune was that the gums of some of our men swelled above and below their teeth, with the result that they could no longer eat, and so they died of this malady. 19 men died, as well the giant and an Indian from the country of Verzin. 25 or 30 men fell sick with maladies of the arms or of the legs and other partes of their bodies, and few men remained healthy. By the grace of God, I was not stricken with any illness. I believe that in future nobody should embark on a voyage such as this. 24. Itsasoa laino dago. Traditional Basque 25. Pavane – Pierre Attaignant (1494-1552) 26. Letter written by Elcano to Charles V – Arrival in the Moluccas Islands 27. Lagu togal – Traditional from the Moluccas Islands The vast province of the Moluccas is musically one of the least known regions of Indonesia. The region of Halmahera is situated in the north, the homeland of togal music, entertainment music for flute, percussion and lutes. Togal is considered old-fashioned, provincial music associated with tradition (adat), which is performed at communal celebrations. At wedding celebrations, for example, which go on for two consecutive nights, togal is performed on the second night, when the atmosphere is more familiar (malam adat), unlike the first night, which is much a more formal social event (malam resepsi). The togal repertory consists of mares (marches) and lagu (songs), both of which are danced, and the musical line-up consists of two lutes (juk or gambus), two drums (tifa), bowed lute (biola) and voice.



Castile with Portugal and Andalusia, as grazing routes connect whatever is permitted by nature and the terrain The music collected in the songbook is of exceptional variety and poetic quality; in melodic, rhythmic and poetic terms it contains numerous songs which reveal through music a world rich in life experiences and which we may to some extent retrieve for the enlightenment and enjoyment of all, thanks to publications such as those of Federico Olmeda. 11. Sumba Song – Traditional Malayo-Polynesian song Situated along the ancient maritime trade routes of Asia, the islands of Indonesia have for thousands of years been both a port of call and a meeting point for peoples, goods and ideas from all over the world. From at least the first centuries of our era, the indigenous cultures of the archipelago have absorbed a great variety of elements from other regional cultures, particularly those of India, China, Arab countries and Europe. The legacy of that cultural contact can be seen not only in the social, religious and political institutions of Indonesia, but also in its artistic, visual and peforming traditions. The plucked lutes of Indonesia constitute a good example. The names, shapes, uses and sounds of these musical instruments essentially trace the social history of the archipelago. On the island of Sumba (West Indonesia) we find pear-shaped lutes, or boat-lutes, with fixed frets, which are used to accompany songs. In various places these crafted and rather rustic instruments bear a striking resemblance to the cavaquinho or guitarro of the Iberian Peninsula. The 7/8 rhythm of this song is very typical of the region, providing a rhythmic, harmonic framework in the form of an ostinato bass to the voice of the performer, who usually accompanies himself on the lute. 12. Elcano’s testament / Salve Regina – Martínez de Bizcargui (1480-1540) 13. Psalm VI: Jauna, ez nazazula korregi – J. Haranburu / Traditional Basque Together with her daughter, Jeanne d’Albret, Marguerite of Navarre supported the Protestant Reformation in open defiance of Rome and the Spanish and French Crowns. Aside from theological and doctrinal questions, the spread of the Reformation (especially Calvinism) in the Basque Country had major social repercussions. 14.Tiento para órgano – Luis Alberto de Gómez, 16th century

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5. Marche de Courteges – Traditional Basque 6. Danse des Kherestonak – Traditional Basque The masquerades of Zuberoa are spectacular rituals in which the social function is combined with traditional symbolism and amazing carnival dances. Musically, these pieces are directly related to periods of high cultural prominence in the territory, such as the late Renaissance and the Baroque. Melodies similar to those used by composers such as Couperin, Marais, Arbeau and many others can still be enjoyed in an authentic context which preserves the original spontaneity and danceability that is difficult to imagine in comparable music belonging to a more refined tradition. 7-8. Neska ontziratua – Traditional Basque lyrics / Robert Ballard, 1610 The theme of the ballad Neska ontziratua is also found, albeit in different circumstances, in numerous places along the coasts of Europe, as well as on the other side of the ocean, in Terranova, where it goes by the title of Charman matelot. Sung mainly in coastal towns, it seems that it was even sung on the coast of Scotland to the same tune as in Catalonia. Moreover, its similarity to Castilian and Italian ballads confirms the multicultural nature of this poetry, and the Basque song and ballad clearly form part of the picture. As for the music of Navarre in the time of Henry III (subsequently King Henry IV of France), there are manuscripts and publications by musicians who were active in Navarre on both sides of the Pyrenees, such as R. Ballard, who composed and collected lovely melodies like the one we reproduce here, now housed in various archives, including the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, which evoke an intensely poetic past in the Kingdom of Navarre. 9. Second letter from Elcano to Charles V – 1522 10. Round dance: Marinero de la mar and A lo llano – Cancionero de Olmeda (Burgos) One of the most important yet neglected songbooks of the Iberian Peninsula is that of Federico Olmeda, published in 1902. It provides unparallelled evidence of the relationship between the music of Andalusia and that of the north of the Iberian Peninsula; there are no geopolitical lines in a songbook, which reflects the cultural reality linking



19. Mi’kmaq Honour Song – George Paul / Traditional Mi’kmaq / Basque On the Canadian Government’s website, we read that “the Basque-Algonquin Pidgin was probably the commonest business language used to communicate with the indigenous peoples of Canada before the arrival of the French.” It is possible that Basque whalers visited the coasts of North America before any other people. There they came into contact with the Amerindian peoples, especially the Mi’kmaq and the Innu (often referred to as montagnais). The presence of Basque cultural elements in Amerindian canoe paintings, such as the lauburu (the four-armed cross of Celtic origin) and the introduction, for example, of the iron axe in America, give us an idea of the kind of relations which existed between the two peoples – one of respect, which was grounded in the mutual trading benefit of both cultures. Two peoples with such different languages as the Basques and the Amerindians obviously had to find a way of communicating and conducting their trading relations based on whale hunting, so they created a pidgin. A pidgin is an extremely simple language with a restricted vocabulary and a rudimentary grammar which arises spontaneously to facilitate communication between individuals who speak different languages. Basque-Amerindian pidgin (known as Souriquois) clearly contains words of authentic Basque origin. Thus, in 1616, a Jesuit missionary from Port Royal, Nova Scotia, recorded the word adesquidex (adiskide is the Basque for “friend”) that the native Americans used when they greeted them. Similarly, a French missionary from Tadoussac observed in 1603 that the Innu used the word ania (anaia is the Basque word for “brother”), but only when addressing the French (they used the Innu word nichtais among themselves to refer to a brother). The Basque adventure in America was brought to a conclusion when France imposed a monopoly on the resources of New France, forbidding any other nations to exploit them. The Basques suddenly became undesirables in the French colonies. Eager to continue their business ventures in America, the Basques of Donibane-Lohitzune (Saint-Jean de Luz) forged an alliance with the Mi’kmaq in an attempt to find a way round the French regulations and continue trading, but in the end French and English colonial power put an end to the Basque adventure in America. 20. Nork orain esan lezake – Anonymous Basque carol, 17th century Possibly the oldest polyphonic score written in Basque. The music of this carol is directly related to the music of villancicos negrillos such as those composed by Mateo Flecha the Elder (1481-1553). The score was found

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15. Letter to Philip II – Lope de Aguirre, 1561 16. Le Biscayenne – Marin Marais / Traditional Basque In various French operas (Le bourgeois gentilhomme, Alcyone…) there are numerous allusions to the pas de Basque, echoing melodies of the mascarada suletina (the carnival masquerade from Zuberoa) and peninsular dances such as the chaconas, canarios and fandangos, which highlight the musical practice of the court of the Sun King who, with his Spanish queen, Maria Theresa of Austria, fostered the fusion of music from France and Spain. Lully had at his disposal a large contingent of Basque dancers for the choreography of his productions at the newly established Académie Nationale de la Danse, founded in 1661. Thus, in his ballets we find 17 Basque dance steps. Marais and Couperin, among other composers, featured this Basque music in various ways in their musical productions. 17. Jota de Cortabarria. Manuscritos Cortabarria, 17th century, Oñati In the still-to-be-written chapter on many aspects of European music dealing with the concept of Ida y vuelta, that is, European music which travelled to different parts of the world, from which it returned transformed into something new, the Basque Country’s Cortabarría manuscripts represent a landmark. In the trunk belonging to the Cortabarría family found at Oñati, there were zortzikos, stylized dances, contredanses and other dance music such as this jota which, given the scarcity of similar examples in from the Baroque period, are even more precious. This jota is a brief piece which bears similarities to the jota by the composer Santiago de Murcia, among others. 18. Aista binakoa – R. M. de Azkue Songbook / Traditional Basque A beautiful Basque dance from Vizcaya (Binangoa) which is still danced today. Its amalgamated rhythm, which was highly fashionable in the Renaissance, and its melodic and harmonic structure are related to other music from across the sea, reminding us of the phenomenon of “repatriated” music, known in Spanish as música de ida y vuelta: music which, in this case having originated in the Basque Country, travelled to other parts of the world and later returned after having undergone structural modifications which endowed it with a new personality, as in the case of the Andalusian cantos de ida y vuelta.



the region. Interestingly, the law justifying the execution remained on the statute books until 22nd April, 2015, when the district commissioner Jónas Guðmundsson officially repealed the decree which made it lawful to kill Basques on sight. Jon Gudmundsson the Learned (1574-1658) wrote an epic poem telling the story. We have selected part of that saga, sung as the ancient chronicles or sagas still are today in the Faroe Islands to tunes with very specific characteristics and melodic systems, bearing the traces of other (possibly Celtic) cultures which have a striking melodic similarity to a number of Basque songs. 23. Aldapeko sagarraren – Traditional Basque It is well known that the Basques succeeded in sailing the seas without falling prey to scurvy thanks to cider, a drink made from apple juice which was the usual beverage on whaling ships. The ration of two bottles per person per day helped to prevent the disease that decimated many other famous expeditions. 24. Portutxoa fandangoa – Traditional Basque / Lyrics by Joxean Artze (1939-2018) 25. Nere vizi gucico galdu nai – Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1651-1695) Juana Inés de Asbaje, known as Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, a Basque-Mexican poet and prose writer who became known as the Phoenix of Mexico, was born in San Miguel de Neplanta (Mexico) on 12th November, 1651. The daughter of Pedro Manuel de Asbaje, who was originally from Bergara in the Basque Country, she was one of the few women to make a name for themselves as writers in colonial Mexico, her verses display a very progressive ideology for her time and she is considered by some to be the first “feminist” poet of the New World. 26. Fandango – Santiago de Murcia (1673-1739) One of the instruments which most clearly illustrate the transoceanic migration of instruments from the Iberian Peninsula is the guitarro or guitarrico. When the Biscaínhos (Basque artisans from the province of Vizcaya, traditionally known as Biscay in English) were working on the construction of Braga Cathedral (Portugal), they hired a large workforce of Biscaínho stonemasons. Among other instruments, these workers took with them a small

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at Laurgain Palace in Aia (Guipúzcoa), interestingly in the same place where 8 original documents by Juan Sebastian Elcano have recently been discovered. 21. My Lady Carey’s Dompe – Anonymous, 16th century 22. Marteinn af Frakkaþorpi – Traditional Icelandic / Faroe Islands / Traditional Basque According to the Icelandic chronicles, the Basques were the first to hunt whales in those waters. There are Icelandic documents recording the arrival of Basque whalers in the Renaissance. They developed a relationship similar to their dealings with the North American Mi’kmaq by means of a Basque-Icelandic pidgin spoken by the fishermen, Basque whalers and the inhabitants of Iceland. This pidgin is documented in 17th - 18th-century manuscripts from the region of Vestfirðir and is inmortalized in two dictionaries: Vocabula Gallica and Vocabula Biscaia. This pidgin also bears the strong influence of French and English resulting from the neighbourly and trading relations between fishermen from various countries in the waters of the North Atlantic. However, relations between the Icelandic population and the Basque whalers were not always peaceful. In 1615 conditions were difficult in Iceland because the coasts remained frozen until the end of the summer, resulting in considerable losses of cattle. In mid-summer three Basque whaling ships reached Reykjarfjörður, in Vestfirðir. The Icelanders and the Basques had a mutual agreement by which both parties would benefit from the enterprise. When the boats were ready to sail at the end of September, a terrible storm blew up and the ships were dashed against the rocks and destroyed. Most of the crew –some eighty men– survived. Captains Pedro de Aguirre and Esteban de Tellería spent the winter in Vatneyri (Patreksfjörður), returning home the following year. Martín de Villafranca’s crew split into two groups: one made for Ísafjarðardjúp, while the other went to Bolungarvík and then to Þingeyri. On 17th October, Martín de Villafranca and the other 17 members of his group were killed at Æðey and Sandeyri, in Ísafjarðardjúp. This action was taken under the instructions of the magistrate Ari Magnússon of Ögur in October, 1615, and January 1616. The behaviour of the Basque whalers after the shipwreck led to their being regarded as criminals and, under Icelandic legislation dating from 1281, it was decided that the only correct course of action was to execute as many of them as possible. In total, 32 Basques, all from Guipúzcoa, were killed. This massacre of the whalers is known in Iceland as “The slaying of the Spaniards” and is considered on the island to be the greatest mass killing committed in



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four-stringed instrument which was very popular in many parts of the Peninsula - the guitarro or guitarrico. The instrument caught on with the people of Braga, who promptly adopted it and gave it a new name, the braguinha or cavaquinho. This same instrument travelled with sailors to Cape Verde, South America, Indonesia… While it acquired a new name in each port of call, it remained essentially unchanged. It now goes by the name of the ukelele. 27. Kama goli – Collected by Jon Mirande (1925-1972) Erromintxela is the name given to the language spoken by the gypsies who lived in the Basque territories (buhameak or ijitoak), although nowadays it is no longer in use. When they settled in Basque-speaking territories at the beginning of the 15th century, they learned the local language, giving rise to a Basque-Romani language which they called erromintxela. In the poem Kama-goli collected by Jon Mirande we can hear a magnificent example of that language. 28. El guineo – Manuscritos Cortabarria, 17th century / Traditional lyrics The guineos, negros and negrillas (also known as villancicos de negros), were a genre of carols which aimed to portray African slaves, imitating their music and their speech patterns. This guineo, which was found among the Cortabarría manuscripts, displays the typical characteristics of the ternary rhythm fandango with binary subdivisions, and it has obvious features in common with the Guinean cumbé, thus illustrating the musical mutation brought about by intercontinental contacts.



Xabier Leturia Foto: Nomad Studio


Nor was he an uneducated man. His surviving signatures are executed in a firm, sure hand, indicating that he had at least received a basic education which enabled him to read and write confidently, an ability which already set him apart from the largely illiterate society of his day. The fact that only a couple of books are mentioned in his will as part of his estate could be interpreted as proof of his lack of an education or even a lack of culture, whereas it actually points to exactly the opposite. At that time, particularly among seafaring folk, it was unusual to own even a single book. Like many others, Juan Sebastián may have received his first lessons from the local priest, or from relatives on his mother’s side. Indeed, Catalina del Puerto’s family included parish priests, town mayors, scribes and even one or two “bachilleres”, who in those days, it should be remembered, were the equivalent of university graduates. However, Juan Sebastián de Elcano pursued not an academic career, but trade and navigation. One of his biographers, José de Arteche, describes him as the master of a 224-ton ship, in other words, a medium or large-size ship on which he had served the king on various campaigns in the Mediterranean during the early decades of the 16th century. That experience explains how he was able to enlist in Magellan’s fleet with the rank of ship’s master on board the Concepción. As the supreme authority on board a ship in the merchant navy, the master was usually the owner or part-owner of the ship, or, at the very least, the owner’s administrator or representative. The ship’s master took the most important decisions in strictly navigational matters, and if he was not an expert in navigation he had to act on the advice of a pilot or helmsman. On warships, or in the royal fleet (the first circumnavigation of the Earth was financed by the Crown), captains and other military commands were the primary decision-makers, taking precedence over the ship’s master. A master’s duties would consist of administrative tasks: he was responsible for fitting out the ship, for selecting and giving orders to the seamen (having no direct responsibility over the military personnel), as well as selecting, stowing and unloading the cargo, handling money and distributing rations. So, if Elcano was the owner of a ship, why did he decide to commit himself to such a dangerous undertaking in a subordinate role of master in the royal fleet? Arteche tells us that in 1519 Juan Sebastián de Elcano had

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The Basque word Elcano, meaning “farmstead”, is a toponym designating a group of rural houses overlooking the seafaring town of Guetaria on the coast of Guipuzcoa. It was in one of those houses, known as Elcano-goena or “upper farmstead” that Juan Sebastián was born in 1487; hence the origin of his surname Elcano.1 The future discoverer of the route around the world was the son of Domingo Sebastián de Elcano and Catalina del Puerto. Although Juan Sebastián has traditionally been portrayed as a man of very humble origin with precious little schooling, the few sources available to us prove this to be a very misleading picture, or at least one requiring qualification. The notes included in various tax returns made in 1500 by more than 350 inhabitants of Guetaria show that Domingo Sebastián was the thirteenth highest tax-payer in the town. However, this does not mean that the father of the great navigator was a wealthy man, given that we are referring to the population of a small town in Guipuzcoa, not a large city. In Guetaria at the beginning of the 16th century there were 16 fortified houses, each with a tower, and its residents owned five foundries and 26 boats, of which more than half were small coastal sloops, indicating that while prosperous, they were not opulent. It should also be pointed out that the wealthiest man in Guetaria, Antón de Arrona, must have had at least three times the wealth of Juan Sebastián’s father, the latter having paid only a third of the taxes contributed by Arrona, a merchant who owned several fortified houses. In short, Juan Sebastián de Elcano came from a family that was certainly not poor, but at the same time far from being among the wealthiest.2

Juan Sebastián de Elcano



yet paradoxically it was this injury that saved his life. A few days later, the king of the island of Cebu, which the expedition had taken as its base, invited the surviving captains to supper. It turned out to be a trap. Incapacitated by his wounds, Elcano did not attend the fatal banquet. Following the loss of so many prominent men, the survivors again chose Elcano as one of their principal captains. Of the two remaining ships, Elcano was chosen to command the Victoria. The other ship, the Trinidad, was commanded by Gaspar de Espinosa. Just as the two vessels were about to sail from the Moluccas with their cargo of spices, the Trinidad sprang a leak, which required several months of repairs. The survivors decided that the Victoria should immediately set sail via the Cape of Good Hope. By the time the Trinidad had been repaired, the winds had changed and the ship was forced to follow the Pacific route, but it failed to make the passage and had to return to the Moluccas, where it was captured by the Portuguese. Elcano and the Victoria returned via the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic on what was an extraordinary nautical adventure, sailing from Timor to the islands of Cape Verde on a crossing of almost five months without making landfall. Although less widely reported and celebrated, crossing the Indian Ocean, sailing round the Cape of Good Hope and reaching Cape Verde was an even more remarkable feat than crossing the Pacific. On his return to Spain, Elcano became a rich man thanks to his right, as captain of the Victoria, to a fifth of the gains from the spices. He related his adventure to the emperor, who made him second-in-command on the next great expedition to the Moluccas. The commander was a nobleman called García Jofre de Loaysa. The expedition, consisting of seven ships and about 500 men, was a punishing ordeal. Only one of the ships reached the Moluccas, and on the way both Loaysa and Juan Sebastián de Elcano, who had assumed overall command on the death of his superior, lost their lives. The problem for the Elcano clan was that Juan Sebastián had taken with him all the men in his family: three brothers and a brother-in-law, for whom he had hoped to secure good positions in the Indies. They all perished on the voyage, thus wiping out the family and its direct descendants.

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lost his ship. His business ventures must have hit on hard times, leading him to take out a loan from some Italian merchants and using his ship as collateral. When he found himself unable to repay his debts, he had no alternative but to forfeit his ship to his creditors. Despite his experience as a shipowner, he now had no ship, and it was this apparent misfortune which ultimately ensured his fame and passport to immortality. If he had not lost his ship, it is unlikely that he would have considered enlisting. Whereas Magellan and Faleiro presented the project as a way of appeasing resentment, Elcano signed up to overcome financial ruin in the hope of becoming rich - very common reasons for deciding to go to sea in the age of discovery. On that voyage round the world, Elcano played a subordinate but important role as master of the ship Concepción, which was captained by the Castilian nobleman Gaspar de Quesada. He was therefore the ship’s boatswain and second in command. The problem of Elcano and other Castilian captains (we should recall that the Basques formed part of the Crown of Castile) was that they were opposed to the authority of the Portuguese Ferdinand Magellan. Although the latter was obliged to consult his captains, in fact he did no such thing and, when they reached St. Julian’s Bay, several of his captains mutinied against what they regarded as Magellan’s despotism. Gaspar de Quesada and Elcano backed the mutiny, which was finally put down. Magellan ordered Quesada to be decapitated, drawn and quartered. Despite his intention to have Elcano hanged along with another 40 mutineers, the rest of the crew prevented the mass execution, which would have resulted in the expedition being aborted. From that moment on, Elcano endeavoured to keep a low profile so as not to incur the wrath of his commander. Moreover, the expedition’s chief chronicler, the Italian Antonio Pigafetta, who was a staunch supporter of Magellan, completely silenced Elcano, of whom he made no mention in what is the best-known account of the voyage. Demoted to the rank of ordinary seaman, Elcano would not assume an important role until the death of Magellan at the hands of the natives of Mactan, the island in the Philippenes that he had unwisely ordered to attack, sending only 40 men to fight against more than 1,500 warriors. Elcano fought and was wounded in the battle,



Those who believe in the old saying that “all past times were better” tend to forget the hardships endured by our ancestors in their daily lives. The fantastic world of the great journeys of discovery such as Juan Sebastián Elcano’s first circumnavigation of the Earth, or the expeditions of galleons and fleets which every year sailed between Seville and the Indies, was not only about the glittering treasure that they transported. On the king’s vessels, as well as privately owned ships, the daily existence of the crews was one of arduous labour, which translated into enormous advantage for the monarchs and magnates of the day whose coffers filled with the rivers of silver that flowed from the other side of the ocean. Living conditions on the ships sailing the route to the Indies were, quite simply, dreadful. Overcrowding was extreme, the average space per person being no more than one-and-a-half square metres. To give an idea of what that means, it is the equivalent of 100 people living together in a 150-square-metre dwelling for months on end, not to mention the animals that were also carried on board! The latter included those (such as hens and pigs) intended as food on the voyage, while others were simply parasites of all kinds and species. Crew, soldiers and passengers all had to live in very cramped conditions, and the passage cost a small fortune. Those with the most influence obtained a modicum of privacy thanks to makeshift cabins constructed with planks and curtains. Consequently, the between decks, from which the guns were operated, were cluttered with cubicles made of screens and temporary partitions. When an enemy was sighted, these provisional quarters had to be dismantled to leave the decks free, thus giving rise to the familiar Spanish term “zafarrancho de combate”, literally meaning “clear the decks for combat”, equivalent to the English command “battle stations”.

The adventure of transoceanic crossings in the 16th century

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As the old saying went, “The sea is a mine where many men make their fortune, and infinitely more lie buried.”

PABLO PÉREZ-MALLAÍNA Professor of the University of Seville


1 José de Arteche, Elcano, San Sebastián, Sociedad Guipuzcoana de Ediciones y Publicaciones, 1969, p. 33. 2 Francisco de Borja Aguinalde Odriozola, “¿Qué sabemos realmente sobre Juan Sebastián de Elcano? Resultados provisionales de una indagación llena de dificultades”, in In Medio Orbe. Sanlúcar de Barrameda y la I Vuelta al Mundo, Seville, Ayuntamiento de Sanlúcar de Barrameda-Junta

de Andalucía, 2016, pp. 25-35.



the devotional works of Fr. Luis de Granada, as well as stories of the lives of saints and Popes. Nevertheless, the top ten most widely read books also included novels of chivalry, and even pastoral novels. Amorous exploits were totally forbidden. Crew members on the Spanish routes were not allowed to take their wives with them, so any sexual relations on board had to be kept secret. Not only were they regarded as a sin against religion, but they were also a crime against authority. Accordingly, instructions issued to generals and admirals of the fleets included, together with their military obligations, the duty to oversee the morality of the individuals under their authority. In other words, a good naval commander was expected to ensure the good working order of the ship’s weapons as well as to sever any sexual liaisons discovered on board. Female passengers were naturally the prime sexual objective of the crew and there were frequent scandals, although when it came to heterosexual relations, everybody, from the generals themselves to the lowliest mariner, tended to turn a blind eye and deny the morality laws their full restrictive force. A much more serious view was taken of homosexual relations, which, given the predominantly male environment of a ship’s crew, were relatively commonplace. In some cases, the presence of children and young cabin boys serving under the authority of older officers encouraged the latter’s paedophile tendencies. Not surprisingly, the majority of such relations remained well-kept secrets, but occasionally scandals erupted, leading to much-publicised court cases. It was a sensitive matter, because in those days the penalty for committing what was referred to as the “abominable sin” was, as in Medieval times, death at the stake. Admirals were imprisoned, officers were subjected to torture, and mariners were burned at the stake. But perhaps the most terrible thing about this sorry state of affairs is that, underlying all the accusations of homosexuality, there was usually a simmering hatred born not of sexual resentment, but of racial or national prejudices, envy and frustrated ambition.

PABLO PÉREZ-MALLAÍNA Professor, University of Seville


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In addition to this overcrowding, the heat of the tropics and the filthy conditions on board resulting from both the customs of the day and a lack of fresh water for washing, paint a totally different picture from the comfort and convenience that we would expect today. It was even laughingly remarked that His Majesty’s ships could be smelt before they were seen, a very apt way of summing up conditions on board the ships. Provisions posed a basic problem. The only safe way of preserving food was by salting or drying and, unfortunately for all the passengers and crew, fresh water was invariably scarce and strictly rationed. The water pitchers took up a lot of space, which had an adverse impact on the ship’s profitability; consequently, the ship’s masters and storekeepers endeavoured to carry rations calculated exactly to the cuartillo (about 504 millilitres), which was the usual unit of liquid measurement during that period. While food rations consisted of salt fish, dried beef and the famous ship’s biscuit (which was as tough as old boots), drinkable liquids were always scarce. Consequently, thirst was one of the greatest torments endured by passengers and crew alike. Of course, it was not all doom and gloom, and the voyage also afforded opportunities to savour some of life’s pleasures. The crossing became especially calm after the Canary Islands, when the ships were carried along by the trade winds. At this point, the sea tended to be calm. With a favourable wind, many days would go by without even having to change the number of sails on the masts. Then there was time for the great pastimes of seafaring folk, the main one being gambling. Although in theory it was strictly forbidden, on His Catholic Majesty’s ships men would often literally lose the shirts off their backs. Dice and cards were the usual forms of gambling, although some gentlemen passengers prefered the more aristocratic game of chess. Drinking and conversation were two common pastimes, but when too much wine had been drunk and talk turned to the men’s private lives, serious quarrels would often flare up. Reading was also a common activity on board, although it was usually a group activity in which one person would read while the rest listened. Illiteracy was very high among mariners, reckoned in the 16th century to be over 80%, but some learned passenger could always be relied on to share his reading matter with the crew. The records of the Inquisition in Mexico tell us, not surprisingly, that the most popular books were religious ones. These included


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On 6th September, 1522, the Victoria sailed into Sanlúcar de Barrameda (Andalusia, Spain) after completing the first circumnavigation of the globe under the command of Juan Sebastián Elcano. Three years earlier the expedition had left under the command of Ferdinand Magellan with the objective of finding a viable westward route between Spain and the Moluccas Islands, which were a source of precious spices, particularly cloves. After discovering the passage between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, Magellan died at Mactan (Philippines) long before he was able to reach the coveted Spice Islands. The voyage to the Moluccas used up two thirds of the expedition’s supplies, yet the most difficult part still lay ahead: the discovery of a feasible return route, which, in such complicated circumstances, would seem to be all but impossible. It was in this context that Elcano embarked on his first round the world voyage. Thus, an expedition whose original specific objectives were born out of the expansionist ambitions of the Spanish Empire became one of the key events in the history of mankind. Nothing would ever be the same again. Man had discovered the true dimension, the general characteristics and the real limits of the world in which he lived: The Earth’s remotest corners were now within human reach. The world came to be recognized as a planet, just one among the innumerable stars studding the firmament. The theological or Biblical limits of the Old World had finally been transcended. In fact, it is no exaggeration to say that it was Man’s first cosmic journey, as reflected in the words that Elcano, the man who achieved this great feat, addressed to Emperor Charles V on completion of the voyage: “We have given practical proof that the earth is a sphere:

The First Circumnavigation of the Globe Juan Sebastián Elcano

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Sabin Bikandi Foto: Nomad Studio


Not confined to the first circumnavigation of the world, their contribution to universal maritime history also included solving the question of the return route, that is, the procedure necessary to navigate all the oceans in any direction. Elcano himself died in the mid-Pacific on 4th August, 1526, during a second expedition which had sailed to the Moluccas the previous year with the aim of finding a solution to this problem. His right-hand man, Andrés de Urdaneta (Ordizia, Basque Country, Spain, 1508 – Mexico City, 1568), was one of the few survivors of that fateful expedition to return home in 1536 after completing history’s second circumnavigation of the world. During those hazard-filled years, Andrés de Urdaneta solved the problem of the return route. In other words, he discovered the theory of the general circulation of the oceans. Many years later, he had occasion to put it into practice when in 1564 he took part in the expedition to conquer the Philippines, which sailed from Barra de Navidad (Jalisco, Mexico) under the command of his compatriot Miguel López de Legazpi (Zumárraga, Basque Country, Spain, c. 1500-Manila, Philippines, 1572). Andrés de Urdaneta undertook the return journey from the Philippines and, on 8th October, 1565, after 130 days at sea, he reached Acapulco (Mexico). From then on there would be no limits to the complete navigation of all the world’s oceans. Those great Basque sailors were representatives of a society and an economy that were geared to maritime expansion. From its agriculture, which specialised in producing the cider that was supplied to maritime expeditions, to its main industrial activities such as boatbuilding and the production of iron for export, everything in the Basque Country revolved around the sea. As a consequence of the male population’s massive participation in expeditions in pursuit of fishing, trade and discovery, which lasted for months at a time, the women took on many of the roles and occupations which had traditionally been assigned to men. Such was the case of the venderesas, women expert in several languages, who acted as intermediaries for the foreign merchants in the Basque ports. The Basque contribution to universal history was not only in the field of navigation, cosmography and naval engineering, but also in the realm of thought. Ignatius of Loyola (Azpeitia, Basque Country, Spain, 1491-Rome, 1556) and Francis Xavier (Castle of Xavier, Navarre, Spain, 1506-Shangchuan, China, 1552) were both heirs to the expansive, seafaring spirit that characterised 16th century Basques. In 1534 Ignatius of Loyola founded the Society of Jesus, the principal institution which was to promote the reform, consolidation and universal expansion

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having sailed round it, coming from the west, we have come back through the east.” In fact, that discovery proved to be a turning-point in Man’s understanding of the universe. This new awareness of the Earth as a planet marked the beginning of an era of four centuries which established the scientific, theoretical and technological foundations on which the Space Age was initiated in 1957. The circumnavigation of the globe was one of the outstanding achievements of the Renaissance, the culmination of the process by which European navigators opened up the oceans of the world. It undoubtedly contributed to the consolidation of Renaissance humanism, to the extent that it corroborated the humanist view that reason and experimentation were the mainsprings for the creation of knowledge. In short, it was one of the empirical bases on which rationalist thought would be built. As the expedition progressed, they gradually understood that rational thought was an exclusive capacity of human beings, regardless of their ethnic and cultural differences, and that fantastic beings were a figment of the Medieval imagination. Those who took part in the expedition formed a great mosaic of cultures. In addition to Basques, Andalusians, Castilians, Galicians, Aragonese, etc. –all subjects of the King of Spain–, a third of the crew was made up of Portuguese, French, Breton, English, Flemish, German, Italian, Greek and even one or two Indonesian members. Their common language was music, which acted as a cohesive link between individuals of so many different origins. It is no wonder that among the thousand-and-one objects taken on board there were five drums and twenty tambourines “so as to have something to pass the time”; in other words, to entertain the sailors when they were off duty, which was when quarrels tended to break out. It is no coincidence that both the Victoria and Juan Sebastián Elcano himself hailed from the Basque Country. As early as the Middle Ages, the inhabitants of this sparse, mountainous Basque territory had sailed the seas and visited distant lands, as in the case of the Jewish merchant Benjamin of Tudela, (Tudela, Navarre, Spain), who in the mid-12th century travelled to Persia. From the 13th century, the great progress made by Basque naval technology ensured that their boats increasingly dominated the principal trade routes between the European Atlantic seaboard and the Western Mediterranean. The Basques’ intense participation in European oceanic expansion from the 15th century was, therefore, a logical evolution of their existing maritime activities.



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of the Catholic faith. This mission was led by his friend Francis Xavier, who gave his life in the cause of spreading Catholicism in the lands of the Far East, where Europeans had recently ventured for the first time. In fact, the Basques of that period demonstrated a great facility or capacity when it came to dealing with the inhabitants of the places they visited. Sadly, these fluid relations rooted in cooperation were contrary to the prevailing norm. Such is the case of the relations established between the Basque whale and cod fishers and the Algonquin tribes who peopled the coasts of Newfoundland and the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, Canada. The native population cooperated with the Basque fishermen in exchange for goods such as chalupas, the traditional Basque whaling boats, iron axes and cider. The need for mutual understanding led to the emergence of a Basque-Algonquin pidgin. A similar phenomenon occurred in Iceland, where another pidgin, Basque-Icelandic, evolved until 1615, when the fishermen were the victims of a massacre resulting from the expansionist ambitions of the Danish Crown.

XABIER ALBERDI LONBIDE, Ph.D. in History Albaola. Fundación Patrimonio Marítimo basco / Euskal Itsas Museoa (Basque Maritime Museum)



Guiterna. Juan de Oliver, Pamplona s. XIV. Refectorio de la Catedral de Pamplona ©Enrique Galdeano Aguirre


3. Ale, arraunean – Traditional Basque

12th century: Benjamin of Tudela’s book The Travels of Benjamin ןימינב תועסמ

4. Bashraf jahargah – Darwish Mustapha, 16th century – Text Pío Baroja

They experienced tempests and reefs, vertigo, fear and terror, the kraken, the maelstrom and Satan’s island. None of this unnerved them. They saw or believed that they saw mermaids and sea serpents, harpies and giant octopuses and islands of fire with mysterious volcanoes. They went ashore in strange lands inhabited by dwarfs and giants, by black or yellow-skinned men. These small ports on the Basque coast were the points of departure for the mariners who sailed mysterious seas. Pío Baroja, El País Vasco (1953)

5. Raiko – Traditional dance from Macedonia

Ale, arraunean bagere. Ale, palan palan bagere. ¡Eup! Ale, mutilak; palan palan bagere. Ale, mutilak arraunean bagere. A mutilak San Antonen bagere. A mutilak palan palan bagere. ¡Eup! Aurrera, arraunean bagere. Aurrera palan palan bagere. Aurrera oraintxe bai mutilak, aurrera bagere.

Come on now, let’s row, Come on now, row hard. Keep it up, come on lads, Row hard. Come on now, row hard. Come on now, lads, row for St Anthony. Come on now, row hard. Keep it up, come on lads, Press on, let’s go! Press on, lads, that’s the way. Press on now, let’s go!

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CD1

Millenary Vasconia: A maritime land

1. Introduction

2. Seikilos’s epitaph - Anonymous

The First Voyage Round the World

JUAN SEBASTIAN ELKANO Songs and dances in the Golden Age of Basque sailing

Hiru Gizaki mota daude: Biziak, hilak eta itsasoratzen direnak. Anacarsis, 600 a. C.

Hiru Gizaki mota daude: Biziak, hilak eta itsasoratzen direnak. Anacarsis, 600 a. C.

Ὅσον ζῇς, φαίνου, μηδὲν ὅλως σὺ λυποῦ· πρὸς ὀλίγον ἐστὶ τὸ ζῆν, τὸ τέλος ὁ xρόνος ἀπαιτεῖ .

As long as you live, shine; Do not grieve for anything. Life lasts but a short while, And Time demands its due.



9-10. Muwashshaha – Abu al-Abbas Ahmad, the Blind Poet of Tudela, 12th century / F. Atlan / E. Solinís

11. Si la douleur de mon esprit – Margarita de Navarra (1492-1549)

Bring us some glasses to forget our sorrows; Gather our friends, they must be here. As long as you live, my friend, let love be your religion. Don’t soil your ears with deceitful words. Be wise and put your trust in wine. Red dates and roses will whet your appetite; Myrtle wreathes my brow and tames my cheeks. Ah, those were the days, when wine flowed free! Radiant faces, meetings and camaraderie. A smiling garden amid the plaintive sound of the rain.

Si la douleur de mon esprit Je pouvais montrer par parole Ou la déclarer par écrit, Oncques ne fut si triste rôle ; Car le mal qui plus fort m’affole Je le cache et couvre plus fort ; Pourquoi n’ai rien qui me console, Fors l’espoir de la douce mort. Je sais que je ne dois celer Mon ennui, plus que raisonnable ;

If I could express in words The sorrow of my soul, Or declare it in writing, Mine would not be so sad a role; For the trouble that most afflicts my mind Is that which I most hide and dissemble; And so I have nothing to console me, Save the hope of sweet death. I know that I should not conceal My more than reasonable pain;

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6. Gurmak itsasoan – Liturgical song / Theobald I of Navarre

1435 The Gypsies arrive in the Basque Country 7. Buselik asirani – Dimitrie Cantemir The Basque Country in 15th century: the confluence of Christians, Jews and Muslims 8. Loa, loa - Traditional Basque

Et factum est proelium in caelo Michahel et angeli eius proeliabanturcum dracone. Aleluia. Mariñelaren alabak, argizaiolari kontu danak Gurmak itsasoan kandela piztu arasa ganian Gurmatzan txalopak tutuka, etxean andrak erreguka Mariñelen emazteak goizean tuk senhardun, eta titxa aldaturik, arratsean alhargun.

Then there was war in heaven Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. Alleluia. The fisherman’s daughter carefully tends The argizaiola, the lamp to light the dead, And if there is mist at sea, She puts a lighted candle on the dresser. The boats’ horns moan in the mist, And the women pray in their houses.

Loa loa txuntxurrun berde, loa loa masusta. Aita gurea Gazteizen da ama mandoan artuta: lo lo Aita gurea Gazteizen da ama mandoan artuta. Aita gureak diru asko du ama bidean salduta: lo lo.

Lullaby, lullaby, green txuntxurrun, Lullaby, lullaby, sweet little bramble. Daddy has sat mummy on the mule And taken her to Vitoria; lullaby, lullaby. Daddy has sat mummy on the mule And taken her to Vitoria; lullaby, lullaby. Now Daddy has a lot of money, He sold mummy on the way. Lullaby, lullaby.



12. Pavana, Gallarda y Branle de Champagne – Claude Gervaise (1525-1583)

1487 Getaria, birth of Juan Sebastián Elcano

13. Une batez – Judah ha-Levi (Tudela c. 1070/75-Jerusalem c. 1141) (Translation: Xabier Kintana)

Que je ne sais là où j’en suis ; Changez en joie ma tristesse, Las ! hâtez-vous car plus n’en puis !

by which I am so oppressed That I know not where I am; Transform my sadness into joy,

Une batez uhinak lasaitu eta Lurraren gainean Hedaturiko artaldeen antzekoak izanen dira. Gaua, eguzkia zeruko armadaren graduetara heltzean, Berrogeita hamarren buruzagiaren gobernupean, Andre beltz baten gisakoa izanen da, urrezko brodatuz jantzia, Mantu urdin harri bitxiz txertatuarekin. Eta izarrek, itsasoen golkoan nahasirik Arrotz antza ukanen dute, beren etxeetatik egotzirik; Haien irudiak, itxura berberaz, itsasoaren bihotzean Argituko du, su eta garren antzera. Uren eta zeruen aurpegiak bitxi disdiratsuak dira, Oso argiak gauean zehar. Itsasoak ortziaren kolorea bera dauka, Bi Itsaso baitira, elkar besarkatuak! Eta ene bihotza haien artean hirugarren itsasoa da, Ene gorespenen uhin berriak altxatzen dituen artean

In a moment the waves will subside, Resembling flocks of sheep that graze upon the land. When the sun has departed by the stairs of heaven, Night, led by the captain of the legion, Will unfurl like a blue, bejewelled mantle. And the stars, as they roaming the depths of the sea, Will seem like strangers fleeing far from home; Like a fiery flame, their copy and living likeness Will brighten the fathomless sea. The sea and the sky are precious jewels, Clear and sparkling in the night. The sea and the sky, of identical hue, Are two seas clasped in an embrace! And my heart a third sea surging twixt the two Amid the waves of my praise.

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Mais si ne saurait mon parler Atteindre à mon deuil importable ; A l’écriture véritable Défaudrait la force à ma main, Le taire me serait louable, S’il ne m’était tant inhumain. Mes larmes, mes soupirs, mes cris Dont tant bien je sais la pratique, Sont mon parler et mes écrits, Car je n’ai autre rhétorique. Mais leurs effets à Dieu j’applique Devant son trône de pitié, Montrant par raison et réplique Mon coeur souffrant plein d’amitié. Sauvez, Seigneur, Royaume et Roi, Et ceux qui vivent en sa vie ! Voyez son espoir et sa foi, Qui à la sauver vous convie. Son coeur, son désir, son envie, A toujours offert à vos yeux ; Rendez notre joie assouvie Le nous donnant sain et joyeux. Vous le voulez et le pouvez : Ainsi mon Dieu à vous m’adresse ; Car le moyen vous seul savez De m’ôter hors de la détresse De peur de pis, qui tant me presse,

Yet, if my language were unfit To match my unendurable grief; And if to write a true account The strength were to fail my hand, To keep silence would be commendable Were it not so inhuman in my eyes. My tears, my sighs, my cries In which I am so well rehearsed, Shall be my spoken and my written word, For I have no other rhetoric. In spite of that, I address them to God Before His merciful throne, Laying bare by reason and reply My suffering, loving heart. Save, O Lord, the Kingdom and the King, And those who live their lives in his! Behold the hope and faith Of one who begs you to save it. His heart, his purpose, his intent He has always surrendered to you; Restore our happiness appeased, And return him to us in health and joy. Whatever you will, you can do: And so, my God, I appeal to you; For the means are yours alone To free me from distress And fear of worse,



A global shift: From the Mediterranean to the Atlantic 16. Arratiako dantzak – Traditional Basque

17. Dos ánades, madre – Juan Anchieta (1462-1523) / Traditional Basque

seme on baten troxatzen eta Jesukristoren beztitzen. (Verrus) Kristo xin da mundura, gure erreskatatzera, disponigiten kristionak Jesusen adoratzera. Natibitate gabean zerua idiki zien etxe kontako etxe andrea kar sar baldei amen, amen.

Swaddling their dear son, dressing the infant Christ. (Verrus) Christ has come to the world to redeem us, Christians, let us prepare to worship Jesus. On Christmas night the gates of Heaven were opened That the lady of this house might enter in. Amen, amen.

Aita San Antonio Urkiolakoa, askoren bihotzeko santu debotua, ai, ai, ai! Askoren bihotzeko santu debotua. Marinelaren andrea kotadun miserablea, gauean senarrarekin goizean pesadunbrea.

Saint Anthony of the shrine at Urkiola, Revered saint, beloved by many. Ay, ay, ay. Revered saint, beloved by many. The sailor’s wife, Poor wretched soul, At night lies by her husband’s side But come the dawn she is full of woe.

Dos ánades, madre, van por aquí, mal me penan a mí. Dos ánades, madre, del campo.

Two ducks, mother, stray here, It pains me so to see them, Two ducks, mother.

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14. Efthah’ na séfathay / Maitia nun zira – Traditional Jewish / Basque

15. Verrus – Traditional Basque

Efthah’ na séfathay Eftaj na sefatai ve-e’enei beron, le-eil jai ashir binsoa ha-aron. Maitia, nun zira? Maitia, nun zira? Nik ez zaitut ikusten, ez berririk jakiten nurat galdu zira? Hala kanbiatu da zure deseina? Hitz eman zenereitan ez behin, bai berritan, enia zinela

Efthah’ na séfathay I will open my lips and joyously sing To the living God, So this way The sadness will flee. Maitia, nun zira? Where are you, my beloved? I cannot see you, nor have I news of you. Where have you strayed? Have you perhaps changed your mind? You promised me over and over again That you were mine.

Kristo sortzen duzu gaur, alegra giten guziok gaur. Kristo sortzen duzu gaur, dantza giten guziok gaur. Natibatate gabean, oilarrak kantatu zuenean Amak semea maiterik zaukan bi beso sanduen artean. (Verrus) Verbum caro factum est, Maria Beti birgine (Verrus) Deus caro natus est, Maria birjinangandik. Joxe txatarrak berotzen, Maria tximak edatzen orduko kartan ari omen zren seme on baten troxatzen

Christ is born today, let us all be joyful today. Christ is born today, let us all dance today. On Christmas night, as the cock crowed, The Mother held her beloved Son in her holy arms. (Verrus) The Word was made flesh, Mary ever Virgin. (Verrus) The Word was made flesh through the Virgin Mary. Joseph warms the swaddling clothes, Mary unfolds the bands, Now they are swaddling their darling son,



19. Amorosen partizia – Bernat Etxepare (c. 1480-1545)

mil enojos. Dindirindín, dindirindín. Dendén, den dendén. Benditos sean los ojos que con piedad nos miraron y benditos, que ansí amansaron tal fortuna.

His coming has made good a thousand woes. Dindirindín, din din din. Dendén, den dendén. Blessed are the eyes which looked upon us full of pity, blessed for bringing us such good fortune.

Amorosen partizia. Parti albanengidio hark ezluke parerik Alabana nik eztizit hain hon derizadanik. Amore bat onhetsi dut guziz soberatuki Ene arima eta bihoza iosi dira hareki Haren irudi ederrori begietan ehoki Hartzaz orhit nadinian bihoza doat ebaki. Nik hargana hanbat dizit amorio handia Harekila egoitiaz ezpaneinde enoia Harganiko partizia ene eihargarria Berriz ikus dirodano bethi malenkonia. Elas ene amoria nola nuzun penazen zurekila ezin bathuz bihozian errazen Ene gaizki penazeko segur sorthu zinaden Penak oro hon lirate zu bazina orhizen.

Lovers’ parting. If only I could leave him! There would never be his equal; But there is no other I could love as much, I have loved my lover to distraction; My heart and soul both cling to him; His handsome figure is stamped upon my eyes. When I think of him, my heart breaks. The love I feel for him is so great That I never tire of being with him. Parting from him is like dying, And I live forlorn until I see him again. Oh, how you torment me, my love! My heart is consumed when I am away from you. No doubt you were born to use me cruelly. If you spared me a thought, my sorrow would turn to joy.

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16th century: Pishonerak: women of the port 18. Dindirindín. Ensalada La bomba – Mateo Flecha (1481-1553)

¡Ea, ea, sus, empecemos! Empieça tú, Gil Piçarra, A tañer con tu guitarra Y nosotros te ayudaremos. Esperad que esté templada. Tiemplala bien, hi de ruin. Dendén, dendén, dindirindín. ¡Oh, como está destemplada! ¡Acaba, maldito, ya! Dendén, dendén, dindirindín. ¡Es por demás! Sube, sube un poco más. Dendén, dendén, dindirindín. ¡Muy bien está! Ande pues, nuestro apellido, el tañer con el cantar, concordes en alabar a Jesús rezién nacido. Dindirindín, dindirindín. Dendén, den dendén. Bendito el que ha venido a librarnos de agonía, bendito sea este día que nasció el contentamiento. Remedió su advenimiento

Come on, come on now, let’s begin! Gil Piçarra, you go first. Strum on your guitar And we will help you. Wait until he’s finished tuning. Tune it well, you rascal. Dindin, dindin, dindirindin. Oh, it is way out of tune! Hurry up, for heaven’s sake! Dindin, dindin, dindirindin That’s no good! Higher, just a little higher. Dindin, dindin, dindirindin Yes, now you’ve got it! Come, let our endearments, our playing and singing join in praising the new-born Jesus. Dindirindín, din din din. Dendén, den dendén. Blessed is he who has come to save us from suffering. Dindirindín, din din din. Blessed is this day on which happiness is born.



22. Quid est tibi / Mare vidit – Michael Navarrus (Pamplona, 1563-1627)

1521 Strait of Magellan and Magellan’s death at the Battle of Mactan 23. Pigafetta’s Journal

On Wednesday 28th November, 1520, we came out of the said strait and entered the Pacific Sea. We went for three months and twenty days without taking on any kind of provisions. We ate biscuit, or rather, what was no longer biscuit, but biscuit dust consisting of handfuls of grubs, for the grubs had eaten the best of it, and it stank of rats’ urine. And we drank water that was yellow and had been stagnant for many days. We also ate the ox hides covering the lateen to prevent it from breaking the rigging; they were tough from exposure to the sun, rain and wind. After leaving them in the sea for four or five days, we put them on the embers for a while and ate them; we also often ate sawdust, as well as rats, which were sold for a half ducat each, and we would gladly have had more of them. But our worst misfortune was that the gums of some of our men swelled above and below their teeth, with the result that they could no longer eat, and so they died of this malady. 19 men died, as well the giant and an Indian from the country of Verzin. 25 or 30 men fell sick with maladies of the arms or of the legs and other parts of their bodies, and few men remained healthy. By the grace of God, I was not stricken with any illness. I believe that in future nobody should embark on a voyage such as this.

24. Itsasoa laino dago – Traditional Basque

Psalmus, 113:5, 113:3 Quid est tibi mare quod fugisti et tu Iordanis quia conversus es retrorsum. Mare vidit, et fugit; Jordanis conversus est retrorsum.

Psalm 114 (113):5, 114 (113): 3 What ails you, O sea, that you flee? And you, O Jordan, that you turn back? The sea looked and fled; the river Jordan turned back.

Itsasoa laino dago Baionako barraraino. Nik zu zaitut maiteago

There is fog out at sea, As far as Bayonne and the bay. I love you more,

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20. Pabanea – Osborn Manuscript, 16th century

1519 Seville: the expedition of Ferdinand Magellan 21. Santa Maria, strela do dia (Prison song) – Traditional Andalusian

Minzazeko zurekila gau bat nahi nikezi Hilabete konpliturik hura luza baledi Arranguren khondazeko asti nuien frangoki Ezeinere beldur gabe egoiteko zureki. Orai porogazen dizit dakitenen errana Ehork uzi eztazala eskuietan duiena Elas izul albaneza iragan den denbora Segur orai enikezi dudan gogoan beharra. Denbora hartan ohi nizin nik zugatik dolore Orai aldiz zure faltaz muthatu niz ni ere Malenkonia ezitela badukhezu amore Bana ordu bazinduke zenzazeko zuk ere. Badakizu dolorian partaide niz ni ere Eta zure muthazeko ez ogenik batere Neure gaizki penazeko har zinzadan amore Iagoitikoz ukhenen dut nik zugatik dolore.

I wish I had one night to talk to you, A night that lasted more than a month, So that I had time to tell you all my ills, And be with you without any fear. Now I understand the wise men’s words: Do not put off what you should do today. Oh, if only I could turn back time! My heart would not be heavy as it is now. In the past I constantly suffered for you; But now, because of you, I have changed. Don’t be angry, someone will love you, Although it really is time you mended your ways. You know full well that I share your sadness, Your fickleness was none of my doing. For my pains, I fell in love with you, And for you my heart will always ache.

Santa Maria, strela do dia, mostra nos via pera Deus e nos guia.

Holy Mary, Star of the Day, Show us the path to God and be our guide.



Kasiang dasawan wolot coba yo ma tasagal gou Biasa to hida-hida hida ua badan gogola Gudu ma la towaji lofo tokarana firani nyinga

It’s a pity he is across the sea, For if he weren’t I’d walk to be with him. I am so used to his company That I am sick when we are apart. Yet, what is far seems near, For we two have but one heart.

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25. Pavane – Pierre Attaignant (1494-1552) 26. Letter from Elcano to Charles V – Arrival in the Moluccas Islands

Letter from Elcano: So that Your Majesty might have news of the chief events that we have experienced, I shall briefly write this account: to begin with, we arrived 54 degrees south of the equator, where we found a strait leading from Your Majesty’s mainland to the Indian Ocean, and the strait is a hundred leagues long, by which we came to the sea, and for three months and twenty days, with right favourable winds, we came across no land whatsoever, except two small, uninhabited islands: and then we reached an archipelago of many islands that were quite rich in gold. The said Captain Ferdinand Magellan died, along with many others, and, being unable to sail because of the lack of men, since there were very few of us remaining, we abandoned one of the ships, and with the two remaining vessels we sailed from island to island, seeking a way, by the grace of God, to reach the Moluccas Islands.

27. Lagu togal – Traditional from the Moluccas Islands

txoriak bere umeak baino. Aita gutaz oroit dago lainopean gaueraino. Nik zu zaitut maiteago arraintxoek ura baino.

Than the bird loves its chick. Our father thinks of us, Under the cloudy sky, until dark. I love you more Than fish love water.

Harape la danasib omo padahal la isia-sia Tawado ni amo omo ni amo la ipele pili Nima wiyo dahalma wiyo fato fato dedo bebewi Isade la damacang mine isa amo de safo wiyo

I thought our love would triumph, But in the end it failed. I thought I knew your heart, But it seems your fancy still wanders free. Even though he is not with me, There are many more fish in the sea. You have already hurt me once; Do not do it again.



1534 Ignatius of Loyola and Francis Xavier: The Society of Jesus

3. Mundu zabalera – Bertso de Xabier Amuriza (1941-) / Theobald I of Navarre

4. Baile a 2: A lo Alto y a lo Llano – Traditional Castilian-Basque

Mundu zabalera noa ur baten gu ere lur bera nola garen. Itzuliko naiz, ez banaiz itotzen. Nahi dut zuek lagun deidazuen. Zatozte begi itxiekin, arren, nik kontatuz jakin dadien. Mundu zabalera… Milesker, ene lagun itsuei! Irek begiak! Segi hor ernai! Aditu nola mundua orain ez den hain biribil, zuek uste bezain. Mundu zabalera…

I travel the wide world Whose waters are all the same, Just as we also Are of the same earth. If I don’t drown, I’ll return, And I want you all to come with me. Come, keep your eyes closed, And I’ll explain it to you. I travel the wide world… Many thanks, my benighted friends! Open your eyes and pay attention! Take heed, the world is not As round as you once thought. I travel the wide world…

Canterito pica el canto y deja a la costurera, que ella pierde de coser y tú de picar la piedra, ¡Ole, ole! Morenita y de tú de picar la piedra.

Stonecutter, cut the stone and leave the seamstress in peace. For she neglects her sewing and you will cut no stone Olé, Olé, Morenita, keep cutting that stone.

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CD 2

1522 Primus circundedisti me 1. Letter from Elcano – Sanlúcar de Barrameda

Having departed the last of those islands, for five months, during which we ate only wheat and rice, and drank only water, we did not make landfall for fear of the King of Portugal, who commanded throughout his dominions that this fleet be captured, not wishing Your Majesty to receive such news; consequently, twenty-two of our men died of starvation; forced by the lack of victuals, we anchored off the Cape Verde Islands, where the Portuguese governor seized the skiff with thirteen of my men, and he would have taken me and all my men on a ship that was returning loaded with spices to Portugal from Calicut, saying that only the Portuguese had the right to explore the Spice Islands; and to that end he prepared four ships to arrest me; but we all of one accord resolved to die rather than fall into the hands of the Portuguese, and so, continually pumping out the water we had taken on in the bilge, doing nothing day and night but bail out the water, and, as exhausted as men have ever been, by the grace of God and Our Lady, after three years we anchored in the Bay of Sanlúcar.

2. Ayo visto lo Mappamundi – Popular Sicilian, 16th century

Ayo visto lo mappamundi e la carta dei naviguari, ma Sicilia me pari la più bella d’aquesto mundi. Tres Sicilias son no piùi; tota tri son coronati: Rey Alfonso ‘n té la duy, Citrafarum et Ultrafarum.

I have scanned the map of the world And the nautical charts, too, But to my mind Sicily is The loveliest place in the world. There are but three Sicilies; All three are Crown possessions, And King Alfonso reigns over two, Which are Citra and Ultra Farum.



7-8. Neska ontziratua – Traditional Basque / R. Ballard (1575-1645)

Aldi batez ari nündüzün sala baxian brodatzen, ezkutari bat entzün nizün galeriati khantatzen, galeriati khantatzen eta kobla ederren emaiten.

—Aita eta ama elizatik jin zeiztan samürrik, eia zeren enitzan juan Mezaren entzutera, mezaren entzutera eta haien kunpainatzera. —Aita eta ama othoi, othoi, pharka zadazie, ezkutari bat entzün dizüt galeriati khantatzen, galeriati khantatzen eta kobla ederrik emaiten. Ene alhaba, habilua, ezkutari haren gana, erran izakon jin dadila gureki aiharitera, gurekin aiharitera eta kobla eder emaitera. —Jinkuak deizüla gai huna, jaun ezkutaria, aita eta amak igorten nizie jin ziten aiharitera, gurekin aiharitera eta kobla eder emaitera. —Anderia, sar zite untzi hunen bamera, arratsan juanen gira biak aiharitera, biak aiharitera eta kobla eder emaitera. Anderia, erho heltü, sarthü da untzin bamera, ezkutariak harekilan lo belharra golkhora, lo belharra golkhora eta helaren desplegatzera.

Once upon a time as I was embroidering In the downstairs room, I heard a young mariner singing from a galley, Singing from a galley, and reciting lovely verses. My parents came home very angry, Asking why I hadn’t been to Mass, To hear Mass and keep them company. —Mother, father, please forgive me, I heard a young mariner singing from the galley He was singing from the galley and reciting lovely verses. —Daughter, go to the young mariner And invite him to supper, To sup with us and sing. —Good evening, young sir, My parents have sent me to invite you to supper, To sup and sing. —Lady, come aboard the boat, Tonight, we shall sup together, We two shall sup together and sing. The foolish lady went aboard the boat, The young man gave her a poppy He gave her a poppy and they unfurled the sails.

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Masquerade: Remnants of a Ritual 5. Marche de Courteges – Traditional Basque 6. Danse des Kherestonak – Traditional Basque

Cómo quieres que te quiera si no me vas a buscar, como el agua busca el río y el río la mar. ¡Ole, ole! Morenita el río busca la mar. Te quedaste dormida yo te desperté, porque ya era de día, porque ya se ve, porque ya es la hora que despierte usted. La sobrina del cura, la más pequeña, la que esconde los huevos entre la leña. Eguskie joan da bere amagana. Bihar etorriko da denbora ona ba da. Las ovejas son blancas y el perro es negro y el pastor que las guarda se llama Pedro. Astotxo bat baneuko bustan zuriegaz Ermura joateko gona gorriegaz! Mucho que te quiera mucho más te quiero yo, mucho que te quiera la madre que… aúpa…

How am I to love you if you don’t seek me, As water seeks the river and the river seeks the Sea? Olé, olé, Morenita, the river seeks the sea. You fell asleep and I woke you, Because it was day and already light, Because it’s time that you were awake. The priest’s youngest niece, The one who hides eggs in the woodpile. The sun has followed his mother home, Tomorrow he’ll be back if the weather is fine. The sheep are white, the dog is black, And the name of the shepherd who keeps them is Jack. If only I had a little donkey with a white tail, I’d ride it to Ermua in my red skirt! However much he loves you, I love you more. However much your mother loves you… Up you get!



1526 Final expedition to the Moluccas Islands and Elcano’s testament 11. Sumba Song – Traditional Malayo-Polynesian song

12. Elcano’s testament - Salve Regina – Martinez de Bizkargi (1480-1540) In the name of God, amen. Let all those who read this testament know that I, Captain Juan Sebastián del Cano, from the town of Guetaria, being sick in body, and sound of mind and natural judgment, as it pleased Lord God to make me, and in the knowledge that the life of man is mortal, and that death is most certain and time most uncertain; as all Christian Catholics must be ready as faithful Christians when it is God’s will; I draw up and make my last will and testament, as follows:

iría y comprara uno que el mío tengo en prisiones. No te fíes de los hombres, aunque los veas llorar, que con los ojos te dicen el pago que te han de dar. Niña, si vas a los toros, no vayas sola, llámame a mí, y allí veras una rosa solita y hermosa comparada a ti. Manzanita colorada, ¿cómo no te caes al suelo? Toda mi vida he andado por alcanzarte y no puedo. Ay, dices que me quieres dar veneno para que muera y luego te ha de pesar que me coma la tierra. ¡Aire! Viva la Virgen del Carmen ¡Lirio! Vivan san José y el niño. Vale más un labrador con sombrero y alpargatas que cincuenta señoritos con las espuelas de plata.

I would go and buy one, for mine is in jail. Don’t trust in men, though you see them weep, You can see how they’ll treat you by the look in their eyes. Young lady, don’t go to the bullfight alone; call me, And you will be compared to a lovely, solitary rose. Little red apple, if you don’t fall to the ground In vain I’ll have tried my whole life to reach you. Ah, you say you would poison me and watch me die, But then you would grieve to see me swallowed by the earth. Ho there! Long live Our Lady of Carmen! Ho there! Long live St Joseph and the Child! Better by far a farmer in his hat and rope-soled shoes Than fifty fine gentlemen with silver spurs.

Mi kalanguruwa ha kammu rongu a ai… Baku hali aya ka ha, nduma luri a mu nu ha ei una ni angú.

Listen, I’ll be sad when we part. I hum this song for you, sir, Who will soon depart.

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Elcano is granted a coat of arms by Emperor Charles V 9. 2nd Letter from Elcano to Charles V – 1522

Most High and Illustrious Majesty. As Your Majesty is aware, only eighteen men have returned on one of the five ships that Your Majesty sent to discover the Spice Islands with Captain Ferdinand Magellan, God rest his soul [...], we inform you that we estimate and believe that we have discovered and sailed round the entire circumference of the world; that is, sailing from the west we have come back through the east. I beg Your Majesty, in consideration of the many trials, labours, hunger and thirst, cold and heat that these men have suffered in Your majesty’s service, to grant them the fourth and twentieth part of the cargo and the proceeds thereof. And with this I conclude, kissing Your Majesty’s hands and feet. Written on board the ship Victoria, in Sanlúcar, on the sixth day of September, 1522. Captain Juan Sebastián del Cano.

10. Round dance: Marinero de la Mar and A lo Llano – Cancionero de Olmeda (Burgos)

—Thira, marinelak, thira, thira ezazie untzia, ene aita ama gaxuak ene bilha dabiltza, ene bilha dabiltza eta nigarrez so itxasora.

—Row, sailors, row. My poor parents will look for me, They’ll look for me and weep as they gaze out to sea.

Cantando cántaros hace el pulido cantarero. Tente que me caigo, marinero de la mar. Tente que me caigo, no me puedo levantar. Tente que me caigo a las orillas del mar. Patria como la mía no la hay en ningún lugar. Para tocar el pandero y para salir a bailar. Por bailar la rueda, madre, me metieron prisionero. Y ahora que ya no la bailo, viva san Roque y el perro. Si supiera que en el mundo se vendieran corazones,

The potter sings as he polishes the pitcher. Steady! I’m falling, sailor on the sea. Steady! I’m falling, I cannot get my footing. Steady! I’m falling by the sea shore. There is no country to compare with mine For dancing and playing the tambourine. For dancing the reel, mother, they’ve put me in prison. And now I cannot dance, long live Saint Roch and his dog! If somewhere in the world there were hearts for sale,



On the trail of the Basque sailors: songs that have crossed the ocean and back 15. Letter to Philip II - Lope de Aguirre, 1561

Lope de Aguirre, Letter to Philip II, from El Tocuyo in Venezuela, dated 17th December, 1561. In my youth I crossed the sea to the land of Peru to gain fame and to fulfil the obligation of all honest men. Lance in hand, for twenty-four years I have done you many a great service. I firmly believe, most excellent king and lord, that to me and my companions you have been cruel and ungrateful, and for the sake of the good service we have rendered you, believe what I have to say to you. I would have you know, Spanish King, that, unable to suffer further the cruelty of your judges, viceroy and governors, I, together with my companions, whose names I will state below, have resolved to obey you no longer, and renouncing our country, Spain, we shall wage against you in these territories the most cruel war that it is within our power to sustain and endure. Moreover, I believe that if there are few kings in hell it is because there are very few of you, and even if there were many of you, not one would go to heaven, for I believe that even in hell you would be worse than Lucifer, to judge by your ambition, thirst and lust for human blood. And so, my King and Lord, I swear to you and make a solemn oath to God that I and my two hundred arquebus-bearing Amazonian soldiers, conquistadores and gentlemen, will leave no minister of yours alive, for I well know the extent of your clemency. I, the son of your loyal Basque vassals, shall be a rebel against you until death because of your ingratitude Lope de Aguirre, the Wanderer.

16. Le Biscayenne – Traditional / Marin Marais

17. Jota – Manuscritos Cortabarria, 17th century

Arakinaren etxean okela Mariñelaren mahian berdela

En casa del carnicero, chuleta. En la mesaIn the butcher’s house, a chop,

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»First, I commend my soul to God, who created and redeemed it by his precious blood on the holy cross, and I beg and implore his blessed mother, Our Lady the Virgin Mary, to be my advocate before her precious son, that he may grant me forgiveness for my sins and receive me into his precious glory. [...] »This my testament was drawn up and made on board the ship Victoria in the South Seas, being one degree from the equinoctial line, on the twenty-sixth day of the month of July, in the year of the Lord one thousand five-hundred and twenty-six. Being present in witness whereof: Martin García de Carquizano, and Andrés de Gorostiaga, and Hernando de Guevara, and Andrés de Urdaneta, and Juanes de Zabala, and Martin de Uriarte and Andrés de Aleche, who signed this my testament together with me. »I instruct my anniversaries and burial to be officiated in the said town of Guetaria at the church of San Salvador, as befitting a person of my status, and that I be laid to rest in the grave in which my father and my forebears are buried. »To the poor of San Lázaro I bequeath one ducat. »To the church of San Anton in the said town, I bequeath one ducat. »To the church of San Pedro in the said town, I bequeath one ducat. »To the chapel of San Gregorio in the said town, I bequeath one ducat.

13. Psalm 6: Jauna, ez nazazula korregi – Traditional Basque / J. Haranburu

14. Tiento para órgano – Luis Alberto de Gómez. 16th century

Jauna, ez nazazula korregi, ez koleran zenza, duzun nitzaz pietate, dzen eria naiz; senda nazazu, Jauna, ezen flako naiz. Ene arima izitua da, noiz arte utziko nauzu? Bihur zaite, Jauna, Begira ene arima, Salba nazazu zeure Miserikordiaz.

O Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger, Nor chasten me in thy wrath. Be merciful to me, O Lord, for I am sick; Heal me, O Lord, For my bones are troubled. My soul also is sorely troubled. But thou, O Lord, how long? Turn, O Lord, save my soul; Save me by thy mercy



1536 The second circumnavigation of the world: Andrés de Urdaneta 20. Nork orain esan lezake – Basque carol, 17th century

21. My Lady Carey’s Dompe – Anonymous, 16th century 1615Slay ing of the Basques and Vocabula Biscaia 22. Marteinn af Frakkaþorpi – Traditional Icelandic-Basque

Nork orain esan lezake gure creadorea Adanen eta Ebaren dela sucesorea Jesus maitea, neure maitea ongi etorria cerala gure redentorea

Who will say now that our Creator Is the successor of Adam and Eve? Dear Jesus, our beloved, Redeemer, we welcome thee.

Nú segi ég sögu af mala guisuna, Marteinn af Frakkaþorpi, sem kom af siasua á txalupa. Hann var debruin semia og var hilu af heimafólki. Sgarigasko fyrir ad etorri. 48. Þá er það upphaf enn tíðinda á ári þrettánda eftir sextán hundruð hafskip óliennt hljóp að landi, upp á Kallbaksvík komst úr ísum, 49. Landsmenn höfðu ekki hafskipum vanizt,

I am going to tell you a story about a wicked man, Martin de Vilafranca, who came by ship to our country. And he was finally killed by the native population. Thank you for coming! 48. Here begins a new story. In the year sixteen hundred and thirteen, There sailed into Kallbaksvik A foreign ship retreating from the ice. 49. The locals, who were not used to ships, Fled fearful to the valleys and the hills,

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18. Aista binakoa – R. M. de Azkue’s Songbook. Traditional Basque sailors’ song

Mi’kmaq and Basque Whalers: The Encounter

19. Mi’kmaq Honour Son – George Paul / Traditional Basque

Aista txinkurrun txankun eznaiz eroa eznaiz eroa sardin burua baino obe da oiloa, obe da oiloa.

Aista txinkurun txankun I am no fool, I am no fool, A hen is better Than a sardine’s head.

Kepmite’tmnej ta’n teli l’nuwulti’kw Nikma’jtut mawita’nej Kepmite’tmnej ta’n wettapeksulti’k Nikma’jtut apoqnmatultinej Apoqnmatultinej ta’n Kisu’lkw teli ika’luksi’kw Wla wskitqamu eya eya Wey u we he haiya, Weu we he haiya Wey u we he haiya, Weu we he haiya Wey u we he haiya, Wey u we he haiya, Weu we he haiya Ta Ho!

Let us honour our native tradition. My people, let us come together, Let us honour our aboriginal roots. My people, let us help one another Let us help one another, for this was the intention Of the Creator in putting us on this planet. Wey u we he haiya, Weu we he haiya Wey u we he haiya, Weu we he haiya Wey u we he haiya, Wey u we he haiya, Weu we he haiya Ta Ho!



landamótum, flutu þar og i bland franskir nokkrir. 144. Grimur að nafni, grimmur striðsmann, hjó með öxi á háls Marteini, kom i viðbeinið völur bílu. varð ei banasár, sem bráður vildi. 145. Upp stökk léttfær yfir axlir manna, ofan eftir velii og út i rok sjávar, söng á latínu sálma og hymna, sögðu frá prestar, það sönnuðu fleiri. 146. Bát var út hrundið að bana kapteini, með grjótlíasti grimmlega eltu, i ennið rataði einn um siðir, svo náði ei rotaður niður að komast.

144. A violent, warlike man called Grimur Struck Martin on the neck with an axe And dealt a blow to his shoulder; The wound was not fatal as Grimur had intended. 145. Then, jumping clear, He clambered down the hill, And singing Latin psalms ran into the sea, As witnessed by the priests and many more. 146. They pushed a boat out to kill the captain. Brutally they stoned him And struck him on the brow, Yet, fainting though he was, he did not drown.

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flýðu lafhræddir i fjöll og dali, sökktu í gryfjur sínum eldsgögnum og mörgu fleira fyrir sér spilltu. 50. Slíkt undruðust hinir ókenndu, vissu ei, hvað þeir horfa skyfdu, þar til hungraði heimska þræla og fj^sti að skoða fólkið útlenzka. 51. Héraðsprófast þeir höfðu ágætan, létu honum segja svoddan tíðindi, en hann bréf sendi báðum kapteinum, hvert þeir með vinskap vel meðlóku. 52. Af Viscaien voru út sendir, hvalveiðis fólkið Hispanie ekki þó langt frá

Ditching their belongings as they went And causing themselves unnecessary ills. 50. The strangers were surprised at this, And had not a a soul to turn to, Until finally the “hungry serfs” Approached and stared at them. 51. There was a good country priest Who heard what had happened. He sent letters to the captains, Who were glad to receive them. 52. From Vizcaya they had sailed, Those whalers from Hispania, Not far from the French border; And with them there were sailors from that land.



Basque Diaspora: The eighth province 24. Portutxoa fandangoa – Joxean Artze / Traditional Basque

25. Nere vizi gucico galdu nai – Carol. Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz (1651-1695)

Zeru goiko izarrek Zelaietako loreek Ba ote dute maitia zure eta nire arteko kantuaren beharrik?

The stars up in the sky above, The flowers in the meadows, What need have they, my darling girl, For the songs Twixt thee and me?

Nadie el Vasquenze mormure que juras à Dios eterno, que aquesta es la misma lengua cortada de mis abuelos. Señora Andre María, porqué a los cielos te vas? Y en tu casa Arançazu no quieres estar? Ay que se và. Galdu nai, nere vici gucico galdu nai. Juras à Dios, Virgen pura, de aqui no te has de apartar; que convenga, no convenga, Has de quedar. Galdu nai, ay que se va, nere vici gucico galdu nai.

Let noone give Basque a bad name, But swear by the everliving God, That this is the very tongue That was spoken by my forebears. LadyAndre Maria, Why are you going to heaven? Why won’t you stay here At home in Aranzazu? She is leaving, I am brokenhearted! Brokenhearted for as long as I live. Spotless Virgin, swear to God That you will not go away; Like it or not, But here you must stay. She is leaving, I am brokenhearted! Brokenhearted for as long as I live.

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Cider: The Elixir of Life

23. Aldapeko – Traditional Basque

147. Fleytt var að landi flotum síðan, nakinn á sandi sviftur klæðum, kviður var ristinn á kvikum manni, en hann snerist við snart á grúfu. 148. Bundu grjót mikið við búlt opinn, fluttu á djúpsjó, sem fært var sldpi, þegar varð logn blítt úr landa vogi; það var útlagt með ýmsu móti.

147. They dragged him to the shore And stripped him naked on the sand: There they quartered him alive, Yet still he twisted and writhed. 148. They tied a stone to his gaping body And sank him as far out and deep as they could. Immediately, the bay grew calm. There are various explanations for why it happened.

Aldapeko sagarraren adarraren puntan puntaren puntan txoria zegoen kantari. Xiru-liruli, xiru-liruri, nork dantzatuko ote du soinutxo hori?

On the tip of the branch Of the apple tree on the hill, On the tip of the tip, A bird was singing. Chiru-liruli, chiru-liruli, Who will dance to This little melody?



28. El Gineo – Manuscritos de Cortabarria, 17th century


Zoan mitxaia panintinora pindro dantzariz tetxalitzen zen haize khilaloz txokiak upre -ni hari kuti dibilotua. Zethorren txaia pindro dantzariz pani parnoa paninekoan dekhatu nuen dibezi hartan dekhatu -eta kamatu nuen.

The girl went to the spring, Gaily dancing as she went. The wind lifted her skirts And I looked on in awe. The girl came back dancing With her pitcher full of water. I met her that day at dusk, I met her and I loved her.

Joxepantoni, kolore gorri kapitan baten alaba, aitak doterik emon ez arren bilatuko deu senarra. Astelenean ezkondu eta, martitzenean basora, eguastenean orbela batu, eguenean etxera. Bariekuan bendeja presteu zapatuan be plazara, domekan bere apaindu eta hamarretako mezara.

Rosy-cheeked Joxepantoni, A captain’s daughter Will find a husband Even without her father’s dowry. Marry on Monday, On Tuesday go to the woods, On Wednesday gather the fallen leaves, On Thursday go back home. On Friday prepare your wares, On Saturday go to market, On Sunday dress in your best And go to Mass at ten.

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26. Fandango – Santiago de Murcia (1673-1739) 27. Kama goli – In the Erromintxela language, Jon Mirande

Aqui en Vizcaya te quedas. No te vàs, nere vioza: y si te vàs, vamos todos. Vagoàs. Galdu nai, ay que se va, nere vici gucico galdu nai. Guasen galanta contigo, guasen, nere lastanà, que al Cielo toda Vizcaya has de entrar. Galdu nai, ay que se va, nere vici gucico galdu nai.

Stay here in Vizcaya, Do not go, my love, But if you go, we’ll go one and all, We are on our way. She is leaving, I am brokenhearted! Brokenhearted for as long as I live. We’ll go with you, my lovely, We’ll go with you, my love. You must take all Vizcaya with you To Heaven when you go. She is leaving, I am brokenhearted! Brokenhearted for as long as I live

Hiretzat goli kherautzen dinat erromeetako gazin mindroa ene muirako mandro londoa mol loloena ene khertsiman. Hire dui ankhai baro, kaloek phiria hautsiz erromenitzat letu hindudan latziaz goroz. pekhautzen nine kamatze-iakaz

I sing to you, My darling gypsy girl, My dearest darling love, My love here in my room. Your black eyes Willed me to love you. I struck lucky after that night When I chose you as my wife.



Mise en page 1 - Euskal Barrokensemble

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