"Iparraldea Bertan" in San Sebastián (Donostia)

Four events have been organised on 9, 16, 23 and 30 March at 7:30 pm at the Koldo Mitxelena Cultural Centre in San Sebastian. They will be broadcast live on the following website: http://www.gipuzkoakultura.net/euskera/real.htm

**A timeless and universal meeting between François Rossé and Mixel Etxekopar**

The first event on Thursday 9 March will be an original concert: a meeting between the master Basque flute player and extraordinary whistler Mixel Etxekopar and the pianist **François Rossé**, who for almost thirty years has been immersed in the world of contemporary music and improvisation.

The Etxekopar / Rossé duo, which has worked a great deal on sound based on attentively listening to each other and their environment (sets of bells, whistling, piano chords, tapping on the flute, etc.), will carry the audience away to a warm and poetic universe with great sensitivity where there is a special relationship with nature.

The battles of Piarres Xarriton

The second event on Tuesday 16 March will be a lecture given by Piarres Xarriton called "Ene Guduak" (my battles).

Piarres Xarriton is a living monument for Basque culture. He has been involved in many different cultural, economic and social fields. For example, he founded Hasparren’s vocational training college and was chairman of the Euskal Etxea (Basque association) in Paris. He has also collected and published the works of Jean Etxepare and Piarres Larzabal. Today he continues to forge ahead.

He will be interviewed in San Sebastián by Pantxoa Etchegoin, director of the Basque Cultural Institute.

A family singing adventure with Pilpil, Dominika and Niko Etxart

The third event will be a concert by the group PilPil, with Bernadette, Jojo Bordagaray and their father, accompanied by three musicians.

Jojo and Bernadette were still teenagers when they released their first record "Agur" in 1978, accompanied by their school teacher, **Txomin Héguy**, on the guitar.

Since then Jojo Bordagaray has never stopped singing. Along with Ramuntxo Carrère, he formed the group "Jojo eta Ramuntxo" and made three records. Remembering the traditional Basque songs they grew up with passed on by their father Alexandre, the brother and sister decided to form a group with him, which also included the guitar players **Mizel Thicoïpé and Philippe Albor**. Vibrant melodies from yesteryear and today.

The last event will also be a song recital. Soule (Zuberoa) will be honoured with Niko Etxart and his father, Dominika.

Niko Etxart, who came to fame mostly through his contribution to Basque rock, was a singer in Minxoriak before he created a new group ‘‘Niko Etxart eta Hapa Hapa’’. The blues rock group has just released its second album, Minuette.

In parallel to this passion, he wanted to explore the purest Souletin singing tradition with the his father, Dominika, who passed on his love of this art to his son. Since then they have performed together at different venues, singing pure versions of Souletin songs. They will be on stage at the Koldo Mitxelena Centre on 30 March.

For further details

• Full programme (PDF - 615 Ko)
• Koldo Mitxelena center's website : http://www.gipuzkoakultura.net/kmk/
• Daniel Landart - Basque cultural institute