euskalkultura.eus

Born in Gernika, raised in Deusto, he got his law degree at the University of Deusto. Life took him to Germany where he has lived now for almost 10 years.  Father of two children born in Berlin, last Saturday he participated in the first Bertso-Afaria in the German capital organized by the Berlin Basque Club, with Bertsolaris Jon Maia and Alaia Martin that came all the way from the Basque Country.

Joseba Etxarri.  Jon Andoni Lekue Egurren left Deusto in 2002, “to practice English and get to know the world.”  He initially spent a couple of years in the Netherlands and later moved to Germany where he has lived ever since.  This “gernikarra who became a deustuarra” adds more names to his personal history since many important things have happened in his life since living in Germany where today he manages the Basque Restaurant On Egin, as well as teaches Basque at the local Basque club among other occupations.

You left the Basque Country eleven years ago.

-I went to Amsterdam first to learn English – I learned some Dutch too –, because I wanted to experience the world a bit.  I worked in hotels, and in a scaffolding company, as a translator, always precarious jobs…I also taught classes in a youth center in a occupied building….Later I had the opportunity to come to Germany and I took it.  The German locomotive wasn’t as well-oiled then, it was in crisis, in the middle of economic reforms and cut backs to social aid….it was going through a time of change.  But Berlin had always been a very attractive city and it offered possibilities.  I worked in the area of international consulting, in a software company too, dealing intercultural and management, always as a freelancer.  I also had the opportunity to re-educate myself and study and I received a degree in Management and Project Management.

You are pretty much settled in Germany.

-The rest of the questions could be important, but the most relevant happened to me the year after i arrived in Germany when I met my partner.  She is German and we have two children, a boy and a girl, Nahia and Antton, seven and four years old respectively, born in Berlin.  That settled me here. 

You are a member of the Berlin Basque Club

-I have been attending their activities for some time, and then, with the passing of time, I became more involved; probably since 2010, 2011, when we organized the first Korrika in Berlin, an initiative that has gotten bigger each time.  At home I speak Basque to my children and I can say proudly that they are Euskaldunak, even though we also speak German at home.  My partner aldo learned some Euskara.

You have been the manager of the Basque Restaurant On Egin since last year.

-I have always liked cooking.  In Bilbao, when I was teaching at AEK, and also at the University, I participated in, and organized meals and dinners, on occasion for many people.  Some were really logistic challenges.  I remember for example the organization of the first Ikasle Eguna in Amurrio, with 300 diners.  But I also organized much smaller events, bertso-bazkariak…

...I’m sure you never dreamed that you would end up celebrating a bertso-bazkaria in Berlin…

-Not at allt (smile).  But it was very gratifying, to tell you the truth, last Saturday’s Bertso-Afaria, at the restaurant come out great.  It was the first organized by the Berlin Basque club and it was a total success.  It was an idea that was left pending for years sice Jon Maia was here before for other purposes.  And it seems like it was the moment.  We put it together in record time too.  There is a group of people that get together here as part of the Gure Esku Dago initiative –because Basques in the Diaspora also support this kind of things – for the gatherings that will take place in the football stadiums in the Basque Country on June 21, and since we had to get together, the idea came about.  The owner of On Egin, Josu Outeiral, talked to Jon Maia, we got the club involved and we set the date and carried it out.

Being a Basque professor at the club, was it easy to also involve the students.

-They were very enthusiastic about it.  With an excellent introduction to the world of bertsolariitza through the documentary Bertsolari, by Asier Altuna, we explained and reviewed the way and mechanisms of bertsolaritza, and in fact, gaiak, the themes that Jon Maia and Alaia Martin had to sing about were created by the Basque students in Berlin.  For example, we played guess who, with a given personality, in this case it was Einstein, that the public and one of the bertsolaris knew but that the other bertsolari didn’t and so had to ask questions in verse.  We also included some more serious themes, like now the urban speculation in Berlin, one of the berstolaris took the role of the entrepreneur who wants to build a large hotel in an area in which people live, and the other the role of one of the tenants who they want to chase away so they can tear down his house.  People really enjoyed it.

It sounds like you succeeded with this very first bertso-afaria at the On egin.

-The restaurant isn’t very big, but it was full, nearly 50 people came.  The people were very happy.  And it is sure that boosting the cultural life and get-togethers here is very important.  The restaurant is also doing well.  The owner, Josu, is now planning on opening another in Brussels, probably this August.  It is wonderful to open the doors of our country to the world through a good table.