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The show will tell the story of the gypsy community in the Basque Country from the 17 to the 21 centuries, mixing fiction and reality.  “We will follow the same family from one century to the next, from town to town, from Bizkaia to Xiberua, seeing the admiration and the hate that they awoke.  For example, during the witch hunts in Lapurdi in 1600, or the Second World War,” he says.

Along with the new theme, there will be another change in the format.  Instead of being played by a hundreds of actors the pastoral will be performed by 14 young singers. “In the book by Patri Urkizu about Basque theater, we read that in the 18 century it was done like that and we wanted to return to this format,” Etxekopar explains.

The youth are the protagonists

The group of actors is comprised by several singers like members of the Amaren Alabak group.  They are young and fans of song.  Etxekopar assures that it was easy to get the youth involved while difficult at the same time: “There are many youth who would like to participate but they are away working or studying.  Even though, when new things are proposed they want to get involved.”

The need to create new projects is very present in the cultural world in Xiberua, according to the musician, despite the long tradition: “It seems that the pastoral is a question of life or death for Xiberua.  We want to say yes and no.  We need to come up with new things and with this goal the Xiru festival was born.  It is a debate that we always have: What is tradition, a box that is full but closed, that when opened smells musty, or a path in which tradition is created while walking?”

Preview tomorrow in Urdiñarbe

Tomorrow there will be a preview, also known as the Mustraka, of the pastoral in Urdiñarbe where the actors and the theme will be presented.  The show will be directed by Nicole Lougarot and the actors will be singers from the Amaren Alabak group as well as other Xiberuan youth including: Xantiana Etchebest, Ihitz Iriart, Graxi Bedaxagar, Luxi Aguergaray, Maika Etxekopar, Graxiana Castillon, Maite Sarraillet, Laida Camus, Benat Larrory, Johañe Bedaxagar, Johañe Etchebarne-Ajia, Niko and Julen Guiresse and Pette Jaragoyen.