Bertsolari

The Basque art of bertso, a traditional type of rhyming musical poetry that remains a staple of the culture of the Pyrenees, is treated with an agreeable mixture of documentary rigor and visual imagination in Asier Altuna's Bertsolari. Combining archival material with observations from practitioners and ethnographic scholars, Altuna traces the history of modern bertso as an expression of Basque individuality and exceptionalism. One commentator points out how it flourished during the Franco era because officials couldn't understand the language, while another speaker says that it remains instrumental in perpetuating the Basque tongue and identity. Altuna also details how in recent decades the art has been affected by the influence of younger urban singers, in particular concentrating on national competitions in which notable bertsolari extemporize songs on topics assigned to them by judges before a large, enthusiastic audience. Altuna focuses on the 2009 contest in Bilbao in which Maialen Lujanbio, the first woman champion ever, ended the long reign of Andoni Egaña, who had held the txapela—the winner's beret—since 1993. An effective introduction to a form of expression that has become comparable to slam poetry or rap, this is recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)