The Song of the Basque

Who among us is ever truly prepared for the semi-annual (or, God help us, quarterly) onslaught of children clamoring for information about "countries"--the more obscure, the better? Well, here's one a little off the beaten path. Hosted by John Forsythe, The Song of the Basque presents a picture of a 120,000-year-old society which is trying to maintain its ancient language (the oldest of all living tongues) and its traditional culture, while still making modern contributions to the arts and sciences. Unfortunately, the program explores this theme in a truly scattershot fashion: one minute we are listening to a "forest artist" describe his work, the next we are learning about the Spanish Civil War, then how the Basque have founded cities all across the world, then how important "family" is. Perhaps most frustrating of all, we are not given a clear definition of what Basque actually is. It is variously referred to as "the Basque nation," "Basque country," and "Basque community," and boasts such tangible attributes as a Department of the Interior, a Department of Public Health, a governmental capital, and a president. But is it its own country, or is it really just a region of Spain/France, like the "South" is a region of the U.S.? Inquiring students will want to know! Recommended if you're in need of things on this, uh, country (?), but its disorganized approach left me lukewarm. Aud: J, H, P. (K. Glaser)