Basque ethnography at a glance

Winners of the Vitoria-Gasteiz marching band championship. Source: Manolo González Pastor.

Music plays a fundamental role in our local collective imagination. Pieces composed expressly for special events (whether religious or secular) coexist with official and unofficial hymns, as well as folk songs rooted in a region or town, to name some examples. Music acts as a unifying force for the community: more than a layer of sound that surrounds the town, it is a network that connects the different moments and contexts that make up the celebration. Various musical groups, such as bands, txistulariak (Basque fipple flute player), gaiteroak (double reed instrument players) and txarangas (marching bands), demonstrate this.

In the traditional rural world, local bands have largely fulfilled this role, acting as a common thread representing a shared identity. Where they persist, they continue to awaken the people during festivals with reveille, accompanying the authorities and the procession, or offering concerts, for example. In the past, they also played at funerals or provided music for those weekly dances that were so important in the emotional development of our peoples from the late 19th to the mid-20th centuries.

Wedding portrait of Antonio Gallego and Epifania Zabala, 1934. Source: Bea Gallego.

At a time when Education and Culture (with capital letters) were very limited, the bands acted as real cultural agents. For many young people with little schooling (until recently, girls were excluded), they were a place of training that would allow them to explore their interests and live beyond their daily work. Thus, being a member of a band became an identity characteristic, as is the case with professions, especially when there is a family tradition of practicing them. And in the late 1940s, being a musician in Oion was not as prestigious as being a doctor, a pharmacist or a judge, but it could still bring a level of social recognition.

In exchange, being a member of a band required commitment. Attending rehearsals was mandatory, except in essential exceptions. It could happen that there were no fixed days for rehearsals, or that a commitment from the conductor required changes to the schedule, as happened at the time in the Unión Musical Oyonesa (a group that separated from the Santa Cecilia band) directed by Francisco Ibáñez. In such cases, he would make the call through the younger members of the band, who would be responsible for loudly announcing it from house to house, like a warning word: “Hey you! At eight, academy!” A cry that still resonates in the memory of the children of those musicians, and the term “academy” was the equivalent of Ibáñez’s home rehearsal, whose philosophical and artistic connotations indicate professional pride.

The performances meant additional income, money that was needed in many homes. The conductors tried to update their repertoire by acquiring scores of popular songs arranged for the band. This undoubtedly required effort, but learning also brought stimulation and prestige. It could also serve to distinguish from competitors and obtain concerts outside the town, as was the case in towns that did not have their own bands. If they had to perform for several days, these musicians would be distributed among different houses, and the town would cover the accommodation costs.

Consequently, these musical groups were (and are) meeting points: between individual and local memories, between personal or family identities and those shared with the neighbourhood, between the people of origin and the rest of the world.

Beatriz Gallego — Labrit Heritage

Recommended bibliography:

Moreno, Eduardo. (2019). Más allá de las bandas de música de Rioja Alavesa. Publicaciones de la Diputación Foral de Álava /Arabako Foru Aldundiaren Argitalpenak/ Publications of the Provincial Council of Araba