Txalaparta is not a Spanish word, it is a word from one of the four official languages in Spain, Basque. Every Spaniard has the duty to know and speak Spanish. However, this rule does not apply to the other three official languages. Basque, as well as Catalan and Galician, is mainly spoken by inhabitants within specific regions in Spain. Basque is very different from Spanish, unlike Catalan and Galician. Even though you are not studying any of those other official languages, they are part of the cultural and historical heritage of Spain. Therefore, it is appropriate that you know at least of their existence.
If you want to know a bit more about this heritage that some Spanish people feel specially close to, you may want to listen to txalaparta. But first, as you may not have heard of the txalaparta before, let’s get started by finding out what the txalaparta is.
Txalaparta is a traditional Basque percussion instrument that usually is made of wood. Wooden planks and wooden fairly thick sticks that the musicians use to hit those planks of wood with. This hitting involves, most of the times, some very skillful and fast vertical movements. Sometimes a txalaparta is also made of stone, instead of planks of wood. In that case, the proper name should be Harriparta. Harri meaing stone in Basque. Notice the difference with Spanish piedra!! In some regions of the Basque Country, zalaparta (with [s]) means “racket”, while in others, for example in Navarre, txalaparta means the trot of the horse, a translation closely related to the sound of the instrument.
Here you have a little intro made by some performers in the States, of Basque descent. Currently there are 57,000 people of Basque descent living in the United States, according to the 2000 census. This constitutes the so-called Basque diaspora, also sometimes referred to as “the eighth province”. This implies an indirect reference to the so-called historical Basque seven provinces, 4 in Spain and 3 in France.
If you just want to go straight into the music, have a look below. That video clip will help you to experience stone txalaparta in action, courtesy of a band, from the Northern part of the Basque Country, across the border with Spain. This brings us to a second question: who does txalaparta?
There are a number of txalaparta bands, but one of the best known ones is Kalakan. This music band is composed by Thierry Biscary, Jamixel Bereau and Xan Errotabehere. Kalakan means “chatting” in Basque. These guys of Kalakan do a lot of “chatting”, but with music. Dip in and check it out!
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