06/09/2011

New York’s Basque club will enjoy a musical evening, thanks to Amaia Arberas, soprano from Gipuzkoa. The singer has a close relationship with the local Basque community since she visits there frequently, as well as resides in the Big Apple intermittently in order to take singing lessons from masters in the city. This time though, Arberas, will perform a special concert especially for the Basque club performing traditional Basque songs like “Ameriketara Joan Nintzan,” “Hara nun diran,” and “Ume eder bat,” to name a few.
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06/06/2011

The Etxepare Basque Institute has published a call for applications for five universities in France, Germany, Poland, and in the United States for the 2011-2014 school years. The universities include the University of Paris III: Sorbonne Nouvelle in France; the Goethe University in Frankfurt, and the University of Konstanz both in Germany; the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poland; and UC Santa Barbara in California. The deadline to apply is July 3rd.
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06/01/2011

The Kern County Basque Club’s 39th annual Basque Festival took place last Saturday and Sunday in Bakersfield, California. The weekend was filled with a variety of activities, such as a Mus tournament and the NABO Pilota Finals, both of which started at 8 a.m. on Saturday and lasted until 5 p.m. Then, it was time for the ASPE handball players, from the Basque Country, to play their games. Sunday started with mass, and was followed by lunch, dance, and more pilota games. The night ended with a concert by Luhartz, from the Basque Country. Preceding the festival on Friday was the 2011 Basque Studies Symposium, co-presented by the California State University, Bakersfield (CSUB) and the Kern County Basque Club, which took place at the CSUB.
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05/26/2011

The Suomitar (meaning in Basque Finnish or from Finland) association has been working since 2000 in the Basque Country building bridges to bring the Basque and Finnish cultures closer together. Their activities include Finnish Basques as well as Basques that are enamored with Finland. The association is currently working on a Finnish-Euskara dictionary in which the cell phone giant, Nokia, has shown interest. One of its members, translator Joseba Ossa, emphasizes the connection between the two cultures, “Finnish is an old and small language, and so, Finnish people easily identify with the Basque culture.” An example of this is Tytti Thusberg, a Finnish designer who resides in Donostia, living and working in Euskera.
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05/20/2011

There has been conversation for some time regarding the possibility of a direct flight between Miami and Bilbao, something that until now has not been realized. This seems to be the moment, and supporters are working to push the idea forward. On May 20th, a representative of the Miami International Airport met with the Basque club, seeking to enlist the support of the local Basque community. The club’s vice-president, Boni Guenetxea, asked all members and supporters of the idea to attend this important event.
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05/20/2011

Members of Quebec’s Euskaldunak club held a meeting on May 15th, where Sylvie Nanaud, reported on the North American Basque Organization’s (NABO) meeting in Salt Lake City. Sylvie emphasized the importance of participating in this organization’s activities and encouraged fellowship between all Basques in North America. Quebec’s club is hosting NABO’s fall meeting In Montreal this September, coinciding with its 15th anniversary.
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05/17/2011

Susana Sabin-Fernandez will soon publish her doctoral thesis at the University of Southampton, in the UK, that studies the memories of the Basque Children of the War that were exiled there in 1937. With this work Sabin-Fernandez also closes a chapter of her own history since her mother was one of the 4,000 children that left Santurtzi, Biscay in the boat named Habana destined for Southampton. Many of them remain and this Sunday they will celebrate their annual dinner, in London, coinciding with the 74th anniversary of their arrival.
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05/16/2011

Aizpea Goenaga, director of the Etxepare Institute [dedicated to promote Basque art and culture outside the Basque Country], announced the opening of an assistantship in Basque Language and Culture at the University of Konstanz in Germany, as well as the creation of three more assistantships for the 2011-12 school year at Stanford, Liverpool and Poznan to be added to those at the New Sorbonne in Paris, and probably another at the University of California Santa Barbara. They will also create chairs of Basque Studies at the University of Chicago and City University of New York.
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05/13/2011
The Noriega Hotel Basque restaurant in Bakersfield, CA received the James Beard Foundation award that is reserved for the best chefs and restaurants in the US. The Noriega was founded in 1893 by Faustino Noriega and Fernando Etcheverry, and was voted the best restaurant in the America’s Classics category, which pays tribute to locally owned establishments that have played a crucial role in a community for over a decade. Owners, Rochelle Ladd and Linda McCoy, attended the awards ceremony last Monday in New York along with some of the country's leading chefs.
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05/13/2011

Oscar Alvarez Gila, History professor at the University of the Basque Country, was in Boise, Idaho last Tuesday to talk about the history of the Basque flag, known as the "Ikurrina." He is currently a visiting scholar at the Center for Basque Studies in Reno. The presentation was entitled “Before the Ikurrina was the Basque Flag. Icons of Basque Identity in the Americas (1880-1935)” and it took place at Boise's Basque Museum. The museum hosted the presentation, which was open to the public and free of charge.
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