Saturday Special: Basque Musicians Gandeia Taldea Concert

You find the most amazing entertainment in rural towns when there's a club that can bring musical groups in for a unique concert.

"It's been years since I've heard music so positive. It was like morning when everything is possible." Jeff Cauhape, member of Mendiko Euskaldun Basque Cluba.

They came from a valley in the Basque Country notched in the border between France and Spain. The group consisted of wo violinists, a pianist, a dancer, and a woodwind musician that also played a small drum hanging from his shoulder. They gave us some of the richest, most classical-sounding music I've heard in decades. There are symphonic orchestras in the western United States, but I have not been privy to their concerts. So, hearing this quartet surprised me with their orchestral sound.

The pianist played a Cassio electronic keyboard, but its depth mimicked a concert grand. The violinists' fingers tripped over the strings with lightness and joy in every phrase. Their instruments blended with the clarity and mellowness of a full string section. The reed instrument pierced the air with sharp trills while the same musician struck his drum with quick punctuation of each number. I'm used to hearing Basque music as choppy syncopated folk music from a more primitive time; however, Gandeia Taldea offered a more sophisticated selection from a variety of sources, including one number composed by a priest.

For a few of the pieces, a dancer performed traditional Basque folk dances whose fancy footwork was difficult to see because the group stood on the same level as the audience. All we who sat on the back row saw were her twists and turns from the waist up. Basque dances require intricate steps.

As the music warmed the room, I closed my eyes and envisioned pastoral scenes of lush meadows of grass and wildflowers surrounded by high, snow-tipped peaks, sheep grazing peacefully. I swayed with the tempos both lively or tranquil. The old, restored Mercantile Company building's exposed brick walls bounced the music around the room, producing brilliant tones for the audience sitting below the high raftered ceiling. It was the perfect venue for an intimate concert.

Indeed, it was intimate in that the audience itself included Basques from the Old Country who have been here for decades. Their ancestors immigrated to the Great Basin to herd sheep, earning money to send back home or to eventually start a ranch or business of their own. Carson Valley used to have over forty sheep ranches of all sizes. Now, only one, the Bordas, still raise sheep and contract them to graze the wildfire-prone hillsides.

Descendents from these adventurous young immigrants preserve their culture through the Mendiko Basque Cluba's activities, which include a dance group made up of children of the members. The club brought this musical group of touring Basques to Minden for this very special concert.

When they finished, all rose for a standing ovation. As the applause faded, one of the musicians said they had one more task. Then they played Happy Birthday to one of the elderly members of the club. That made the evening more like a family gathering as most of the members have been friends and associates for decades. Basques form close-knit communities throughout the western United States.

After an encore of two more numbers, the audience rose for another ovation before chatting with the members of the group. The flutist/drummer spoke in Basque to one of the elderly men while I waited for a chance to ask him about the woodwind he played. It was an ebony instrument much like a clarinet but without the bell on the end. Instead, the lower part of it had a row of tiny holes for the scale. Despite how few there were, he was able to extend the range of the scale quite a bit.

After a while, though, I left him to his conversation with the old gent. Can you imagine traveling around the world to share music from an obscure country whose language is so old its origins cannot be traced? At last, you play a concert in another obscure, little town in a country that considers its location a fly-over state … and you find people who speak your language? They came from your country, maybe even your village or one just down the road. And both of you are relieved and thrilled to speak to someone outside your family in your mother tongue.

It was truly a beautiful night filled with music that enlivened the soul.

Here is a good, short video of Gandeia Taldea rehearsing one of their numbers followed by an interview ... in Basque of course. It's a melodic language in its own right. 

If you enjoyed this review, feel free to explore other essays, poems, and articles in the Ring Around the Basin Archive.