euskalkultura.eus

Brussels, Belgium.  Musician Juan Mari Beltran is one of the authorities in the world of traditional Basque music. He performed a concert presentation of the tour he will realize in November throughout the country.  Beltran was accompanied by Ander Barrentetxea (txalaparta and percussion) and Andoitz Antzizar (trikitixa and vocals).

The event was the presentation of the tour, organized by the Etxepare Basque Institute and the Association Jeunesses Musicales Wallonie-Bruxelles.  On behalf of the musicians, Aizpea Goenaga, director of Etxepare, was in attendance as well as the Basque Government’s Director of Foreign Affairs, Mikel Anton.

The concert, which had a great draw, was attended by nearly 300 programmers from Belgium as well as other countries.  The event was very prestigious, especially since the federation used it as a way to present the tour.

Every year, Jeunesses Musicales chooses a country as the protagonist of the tour and this year they chose Beltran as one of the invited musicians.  The tour has two aspects: on the one hand, it organizes concerts and workshops in schools in the country, and on the other, public concerts are also performed in auditoriums and cultural centers.

In reference to the dimension of this initiative, suffice it to say that in 2010 more than 50,000 Belgian children and youth participated in 1,350 educational concerts and another 350 concerts were organized in cultural centers.