Bertsolaristic movement History From the bar to the stage

From the bar to the stage

In addition to the occasional floral games, the most popular eco-systems for improvised singing were cider houses, bars and inns. The bertsolari was an unschooled buffoon, a drunkard entertaining the public. This was how Basarri (1913-1999) first started, in his parents’ bar. Like many other bertsolaris, he felt it was his duty to take the art of improvisation away from the restricted space of the bar. Before Basarri, however, Kepa Enbeita (1878-1942) and Pello Otaño (1857-1910) had already impregnated the art with a certain amount of dignity. Correction of verses by Otaño, the open character of Enbeita, and the way in which they approached topics formed the basis of a new type of bertsolarismo.

Thus, in an attempt to establish some sort of reality, the consequences of the movement begun by Jose Aristimuño “Aitzol” (1896-1936), Manuel Lekuona, Juan Jose Makazaga, Basarri and a number of others (some mention should be made of the foundation of the Euskaltzaleak group) was the first Basque Country Bertsolari Championship. This was the first step in the “professionalisation” of bertsolaris, which took the art from the bar out into the street, the village square, the fronton, the theatre, the cinema and the church.

The championship brought on many changes:

Theme-setters: subjects, which until then had been real topics, became fictional;a fiction close to reality, naturally. The bertsolaris of the time felt that those setting the topics should themselves be bertsolaris, since the topics were supposed to be presented in verse as well. Aitzol was the first to present them in this way.

Organisation: a group or association had to make arrangements for the contest. In 1935 only a few bertsolaris took part, but subsequently it was found necessary to enlist the assistance of certain groups.

Judges: if the work of the judges was difficult enough judging between two bertsolaris, a contest with many more would have to use a much more complex system.
The contests considerably reduced the duration of performances in cider houses and bars, and created a general infrastructure. Uztapide, Balendin Enbeita and Lazkao Txiki also formed part of this new era.

It was professionalism which won the 1935 championship together with Basarri, and Txirrita was obliged to accept fifth place. A year later, however, Txirrita won the contest, even though one of the judges informed Manuel Olaizola that Uztapide had won fair and square. However, Txirrita was now dying. If there had been a contest in 1937 he would have won, assuming Basarri had not taken part and Franco had not driven the art into the darkness of clandestinity. Unfortunately, the Civil War broke out shortly after the death of Txirrita, who had no sons to send to the front.

Between 1940 and 1950 there was severe censorship under the dictatorship of Francisco Franco (1892-1975), the Spanish “Caudillo” or leader. The fear of punishment and fines grew, no political topics could be voiced, and so bertsolarismo as a chronicle of the oppressed was heavily censored. Bertsolaris had to “learn to walk a glass stairway”. In clandestinity, Basarri and Uztapide performed many times in village squares in the Basque Country, a task beset with a host of difficulties.

Protest and innovation			Bertsolaris from the social viewpoint