In the first person,
regarding the plural.

Audiovisual bertsoak,
written for the present time.

In Basque the relationship between song and bertsolaritza, the making of bertsoak, is ingrained. In what was until very recently an oral culture, there are countless bertsoak and countless popular, anonymous songs.

Anonyme Popular is one more proposal in bertsolaritza and Basque music, and here is proposing audiovisual bertsoak –like the bertsoak that in the past have been printed on paper, recorded on tape, or set to live music. In addition to the words, which speak of these times and the social climate we live in, it offers modern melodies and sounds.

Worldwaywoeful

Anonyme Popular

There’s a peon

At birth

But you know it too dude

One more

I’ve sure had some days

The first to come into the world

Look at where we are

Bertso-chronicles and voice: Igor Elortza Aranoa. 

Songs and sounds: Rafa Rueda Etxebarria.

Videocreations: Kulturaz Kooperatiba.

Igor Elortza Aranoa

Born in Durango, Bizkaia, he has had an artistic career of over thirty years, always working with words; this is why he likes to introduce himself as a berbagin: palabrador, parolétarien, wordworker.

He first became known as a bertsolari, and since the early 1990s it is in this discipline that he has been most visible: he has already participated in over 1,500 improvisational bertsolaritza performances, he has been a finalist in four national championships in the Basque Country, and he was named the txapeldun, or champion, in five provincial championships in Bizkaia.

He was in his teens when he began taking part in projects of bertsoak set to music, and he has staged three shows and brought out as many records, with fellow bertsolari Unai Iturriaga and musician Josu Zabala: Bertso berriak pobreziari jarriak (New bertsoak set to poverty; 1995), Barrenkaleko bluesak (Barrenkale Street blues; 1997), and Bertso berriak eta lagun zaharrak (New bertsoak and old friends; 2007).

He has also written plays such as Errautsak (Ashes; 2011), Francoren bilobari gutuna (Letter to Franco´s grandchild; 2016), Zaldi urdina (Blue horse; 2019) for the theater companies Axut, Artedrama, and Dejabu, as well as scripts for television shows and commercials.

Igor Elortza Aranoa

Born in Durango, Bizkaia, he has had an artistic career of over thirty years, always working with words; this is why he likes to introduce himself as a berbagin: palabrador, parolétarien, wordworker.

He first became known as a bertsolari, and since the early 1990s it is in this discipline that he has been most visible: he has already participated in over 1,500 improvisational bertsolaritza performances, he has been a finalist in four national championships in the Basque Country, and he was named the txapeldun, or champion, in five provincial championships in Bizkaia.

He was in his teens when he began taking part in projects of bertsoak set to music, and he has staged three shows and brought out as many records, with fellow bertsolari Unai Iturriaga and musician Josu Zabala: Bertso berriak pobreziari jarriak (New bertsoak set to poverty; 1995), Barrenkaleko bluesak (Barrenkale Street blues; 1997), and Bertso berriak eta lagun zaharrak (New bertsoak and old friends; 2007).

He has also written plays such as Errautsak (Ashes; 2011), Francoren bilobari gutuna (Letter to Franco´s grandchild; 2016), Zaldi urdina (Blue horse; 2019) for the theater companies Axut, Artedrama, and Dejabu, as well as scripts for television shows and commercials.

Rafa Rueda Etxebarria

Immersed in the musical world since he was a teenager, Rafa´s career is already long and broad, beginning in the 1990s with the group Broken Bihotz. As the singer of PiLT, he also became known as a songwriter and guitarist; the group recorded five albums and gave hundreds of concerts throughout the peninsula over ten years. He began his solo career in 2003 and has released six albums since then.

Apart from his solo work, he has taken part in various projects that mix music and poetry: Zaharregia, txikiegia agian (Too old, too small, maybe; 2003) and Jainko txiki eta jostalari hura (That tiny playful god; 2013) with Kirmen Uribe, Mikel Urdangarin, and Bingen Mendizabal; Haragizkoa (What´s flesh; 2010) with Omar Nabarro (Edorta Jimenez); Gabrielen lekua (from the work of Gabriel Aresti; 2014) with Oier Gillan, Andoni Egaña, and Alain Urrutia. On the occasion of the centenary of the birth of the poet Lauaxeta, he was in charge of the artistic direction and production of Ehungarrenean hamaika (Eleven on the hundredth; 2004).

He has also worked in theater, with the pieces Lauaxeta (Maskarada 2004), Ohean (In bed; Maskarada 2005), Antartikako lorea (Antarctic flower; Erre Produkzioak 2011) and Oteihitzari biraka (Circling Oteiza´s words; Kukai - Tanttaka 2006), as well as composing the music for the fiction podcast series Artxipelagoa (Ulumedia 2021).

Rafa Rueda Etxebarria

Immersed in the musical world since he was a teenager, Rafa´s career is already long and broad, beginning in the 1990s with the group Broken Bihotz. As the singer of PiLT, he also became known as a songwriter and guitarist; the group recorded five albums and gave hundreds of concerts throughout the peninsula over ten years. He began his solo career in 2003 and has released six albums since then.

Apart from his solo work, he has taken part in various projects that mix music and poetry: Zaharregia, txikiegia agian (Too old, too small, maybe; 2003) and Jainko txiki eta jostalari hura (That tiny playful god; 2013) with Kirmen Uribe, Mikel Urdangarin, and Bingen Mendizabal; Haragizkoa (What´s flesh; 2010) with Omar Nabarro (Edorta Jimenez); Gabrielen lekua (from the work of Gabriel Aresti; 2014) with Oier Gillan, Andoni Egaña, and Alain Urrutia. On the occasion of the centenary of the birth of the poet Lauaxeta, he was in charge of the artistic direction and production of Ehungarrenean hamaika (Eleven on the hundredth; 2004).

He has also worked in theater, with the pieces Lauaxeta (Maskarada 2004), Ohean (In bed; Maskarada 2005), Antartikako lorea (Antarctic flower; Erre Produkzioak 2011) and Oteihitzari biraka (Circling Oteiza´s words; Kukai - Tanttaka 2006), as well as composing the music for the fiction podcast series Artxipelagoa (Ulumedia 2021).