euskalkultura.eus

Rome, Italy.  The Italian Basque club Associazione Culturale Euskara (ACE) and the Department of Basque Language and Culture (DLCB) at the University UPTER stated the Euskanta project in 2010.  Since then, they have carried out this project every year with the collaboration of enthusiastic teachers and students from various public schools in the city.  This year, the collaborators were 43 boys and girls from the A Rosmini fifth grade who have turned to composing music and poetry through this groundbreaking project.

The goal of Euskanta is to allow youth to get to know poetry, music and the Basque language in an active and creative way, and as in previous years, the result has been a  very original and evocative work.  The project also allows a unique aspect regarding the language: youth first create their poems in Italian and then members of the ACE and the DLCB help them to translate them into Basque.  It is a fun way to build a bridge between the two cultures and for the youth to see themselves transformed into poets and musicians through an unforgettable experience.

Compose and Record

“Afterwards, with a computer, a keyboard and a microphone, they begin to make music: choose an instrument, create a musical phrase, choose other instruments and create another piece…,” explain the organizers to EuskalKultura.com.  The result is instrumental music of the song that accompanies each boy and girl singing and recording the texts of their poems in Basque.

The songs created in the process have been gathered on three CDs, Euskanta 2013 and can be heard online on the project’s website. There you can also enjoy the texts of the poems along with the illustrations done by the participants.

Also Basque Students

The project is very attractive, not only to the children, but also to adults, and this year several Basque students at UPTER also participated in Euskanta.  Sources from both the ACE and the DLCB stressed the large participation in Basque classes this year with a total of 120 students in groups in Milan, Rome and Palermo.

-See http://euskanta.wordpress.com