The book “The History of Basque Music” was presented the 29th of July in the Basque Studies Center
Miren Iñarga, general and academic director of Musikene, and Xabier Irujo, director of the Centre for Basque Studies at the University of Nevada, Reno, also took part in the presentation at the San Telmo Museum in San Telmo, Donostia.
Basque music is music created or experienced in the Basque Country, but also music created by Basque masters outside its borders, including music created in the diaspora.
Although research has been done on Basque music and musicians, and although the history of Basque music in Araba and Navarre has been investigated and essays have been published on musical genres such as opera or liturgical monody, until now there has been no academic volume on the history of Basque music with a panoramic view. This book analyses Basque music from a chronological perspective, up to the 19th century. It covers the currents of classical tradition and the latest trends in composition, adding chapters on women in Basque music and a brief history of jazz and popular music in the country.
The bibliography includes a selection of the most significant sources, and the volume closes with a phonography that includes the most representative audio files from the different periods of Basque music.
The value of this book is extraordinary. It is the first book on the history of Basque music to be published in English, and an academic reference for the study of the history of Basque music that will be published in both Basque and Spanish by Musikene.
The English version has been published by CBS Press, together with Musikene. The editor of the book is Josu Okiñena, professor, researcher and renowned musician and pianist at Musikene. To complete this project, Okiñena selected a group of experts in the field.