Bertsolaristic movement What is a bertso? Introduction

What is a bertso?

Xabier Amuriza encapsulates bertsolaritza in this stanza:

Neurraz eta errimaz
kantatzea hitza
horra hor zer kirol mota
den bertsolaritza.
(Metre and rhyme
the singing word
behold bertsolaritza
as a form of sport).

Likewise, the book El arte del bertsolarismo: realidad y claves de la improvisación oral vasca (The art of bertsolaritza: reality of and keys to Basque oral improvisation), written by Joxerra Garzia, Andoni Egaña and Jon Sarasua, defines bertsolaritza as a sung, rhymed and metred discourse. Nevertheless, this air, rhyme and metre are mere technical aspects of the bertso. “The quality of the bertso is reflected in its force of reasoning and in its poetical-rhetorical value”.

Despite this, we have a deeper knowledge of the technical aspects.

The airs