AUTHORS

INTRODUCTION

I. SOCIOCULTURAL REALITY AND PRESENT-DAY BERTSOLARITZA

II. ACHIEVING A BALANCE AMONGST THE CHALLENGES FACING BERTSOLARITZA: KEYS TO THE CREATIVITY OF THE TRADITION

III. THE PROCESS OF CREATING IMPROVISED BERTSOS

1. Formal aspects

1.1. The melodies

1.2. Metre

1.3. Rhyme

2. Principal strategy in the construction of the improvised bertso

3. The soul of bertsolaritza-improvised oral confrontation

IV. PROPOSALS FOR A THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

V. GLOSSARY

1 Formal aspects

To construct an improvised bertso there are a number of formal aspects to be considered. The bertso consists of a sung, rhymed and measured discourse. Thus, independently of the content of such discourse, the air, the rhyme, and the metre are inseparable elements of improvised bertso singing. We can say that the person who can sing and construct the bertso with the chosen metre and rhyme, has the minimum skills of the improvising bertsolari. But this is just the technical aspect of the profession. The quality of the bertso depends on the dialectic, rhetorical and poetic values of the constructed verse.