FEMALE .... improvisational - ,I: t -,· POETS ...~1 Challenges and Achievements in the Twentieth Century In December 2009, 14,500 people met at the Bilbao Exhibi­ tion Centre in the Basque Country to attend an improvised poetry contest.Forty-four poets took part in the 2009 literary tournament, and eight of them made it to the final. After a long day of literary competition, Maialen Lujanbio won and received the award: a big black txapela or Basque beret. That day the Basques achieved a triple triumph. First, thou­ sands of people had gathered for an entire day to follow a lite­ rary contest, and many more had attended the event via the web all over the world. Second, all these people had followed this event entirely in Basque, a language that had been prohi­ bited for decades during the harsh years of the Francoist dic­ tatorship.And third, Lujanbio had become the first woman to win the championship in the history of the Basques. After being crowned with the txapela, Lujanbio stepped up to the microphone and sung a bertso or improvised poem refe­ rring to the struggle of the Basques for their language and the struggle of Basque women for their rights. It was a unique moment in the history of an ancient nation that counts its past in tens of millennia: I remember the laundry that grandmothers of earlier times carried on the cushion [ on their heads J I remember the grandmother of old times and today's mothers and daughters.... • pr .. Center for Basque Studies # avisatiana University of Nevada, Reno ISBN 978-1-949805-04-8 90000 9 781949 805048 ■ .~--- t _:~A) Conference Papers Series No. 15 Female Improvisational Poets: Challenges and Achievements in the Twentieth Century Center for Basque Studies University of Nevada, Reno © 2019 Center for Basque Studies. Female Improvisational Poets: Challenges and Achievements in the Twentieth Century Editors: Xabier Irujo and Iaki Arrieta All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of any license permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Center for Basque Studies University of Nevada, Reno Reno, Nevada 89557 http://basque.unr.edu ISBN-13: 978-1-949805-04-8 ISBN-10: 1-949805-04-2 Conference Papers Series No. 15 Series Editor: Sandra Ott Center for Basque Studies University of Nevada, Reno Reno, Nevada 89557 http://basque.unr.edu Copyright © 2018 by Center for Basque Studies All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Irujo Ametzaga, Xabier, editor. | Arrieta, Inaki, editor. Title: Female improvisational poets : challenges and achievements in the twentieth century / editors, Xabier Irujo, Inaki Arrieta. Description: Reno, Nevada : Center for Basque Studies, University of Nevada, Reno, [2019] | Series: Conference papers series ; no. 15 | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2019001084| ISBN 9781949805048 (paperback : alk. paper) | ISBN 1949805042 (paperback : alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH: Folk poetry, Basque--20th century--History and criticism--Congresses. | Women's rights--Spain--Pa?is Vasco--Congresses. Classification: LCC PH5290 .F46 2019 | DDC 899/.92--dc23 LC record available at: https://catalog.loc.gov/vwebv/search? searchCode=LCCN&searchArg=2019001084&searchType=1&permalink=y Contents Female Improvisational Poets: Challenges and Achievements in the Twentieth Century . 7 I See a Body in Your Voice: Gendered Bodies in the Sound of Bertsolaritza . 17 Women in Bertsogintza: From Being a Subject to Being Capable . 47 As the Tree Grows, the Bark Cracks . 75 Contemporary Women Bertsolari The Tale of a Possible Empowerment Process . 107 The Presence of Women Bertsolaris as a Kind of Historical Comeback (After Their Eviction from the Public Space) . 131 What is the Sex of a Bertsolaria?. 141 Basque and Buckaroo: Women at Work in the Nevada Desert . 173 Work Song: A Female Voice from Cow Camp . 187 INTRODUCTION Female Improvisational Poets: Challenges and Achievements in the Twentieth Century Xabier Irujo and Iaki Arrieta Baro On December 13, 2009, 14,500 people met at the Bilbao Exhibi- tion Centre in the Basque Country to attend an improvised poetry contest. It was the fifteenth edition of this particular Basque national poetry gathering. Forty-four poets took part in the 2009 literary tournament, and eight of them made it to the final. After a long day of literary competition, Maialen Lujanbio won and received the award: a big black txapela or Basque beret. That day the Basques achieved a triple triumph. First, thousands of people had gathered for an entire day to follow a literary contest, and many more had attended the event via the web or on TV and the radio, all over the world. Second, all these people had followed this event entirely in Basque, a language that had been prohibited for decades during the harsh years of the Francoist dictatorship 8 FEMALE IMPROVISATIONAL POETS:: and that, according to the data provided by the UNESCO, in the late 1970s was on the brink of extinction. And third, Lujanbio had become the first woman to win the championship in the history of the Basques. After being crowned with the txapela, Lujanbio stepped up to the microphone and sung a bertso or improvised poem referring to the struggle of the Basques for their language and the struggle of Basque women for their rights. It was a unique moment in the his- tory of an ancient nation that counts its past in tens of millennia: Gogoratzen naiz lehengo amonen I remember the laundry that grandmothers zapi gaineko gobaraz of earlier times carried on the cushion [on their heads] gogoratzen naiz lehengo amonaz I remember the grandmother of old times gaurko amaz ta alabaz. and today’s mothers and daugh- ters. Gure bidea ez da errexa Our journey is not an easy one bete legez, juizioz, trabas… Full of laws, court cases, obstacles, Euskal Herriko lau ertzetara we shall return to the four corners itzuliko gara gabaz the Basque Country at night, Eta hemen bildu dan indarraz And with the strength that we have harvested here, grinaz eta poz taupadaz with passion and heartbeats of joy, herri hau sortzen segi dezagun let’s continue building this coun- try euskaratik ta euskaraz. from and with the Basque lan- guage. CHALLENGES AND ACHIEVEMENTS IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 9 A big ovation followed her voice. Bertsolaritza or Basque improvisational poetry is the art of voic- ing the moment.1 A bertso is an improvised verse as opposed to an olerki, which is a written poem. The bertsoak are composed on the spot. The poet is often given the theme or the rhythm or the meter or all of them together by the moderator, and then the poet must start singing according to what she or he has been given. Sometimes the poet is given words that have to rhyme, and he or she must work with them. There are often contests between two or three (or many more) bertsolariak or singing poets, so they have to defend an idea: for instance, a young woman in love who has to convince a beautiful partner to kiss her while the other bertsolari counters her desires. Often, however, there are also sad, satirical, political, and profoundly philosophical bertsoak as well. There are city, regional, and national level bertso contests. The first bertsoak to be published in Basque appeared in 1545, and some of the melodies can date back half a millennium.2 The present book will address the struggle for the rights of women in the context of bertsolaritza (improvised oral poetry) in the Basque Country. It is a good case study since the critical situa- tion and development of the Basque language and Basque culture has historically conditioned the state of bertsolaritza and continues to do so today. At the same time, it is also an excellent case study to analyze the struggle for the rights of women in the context of a minority culture that battles for its own cultural survival. The book opens with the chapter by Jone Miren Hernandez’ “I See a Body in Your Voice: Gendered Bodies in the Sound of Bertsolaritza,” which contemplates a historical journey with the aim of examining more closely the growing social importance that bertsolaritza has acquired through the years, paying particular at- tention to its development since the 1930s. Hernandez underlines the close ties between bertsolaritza and society, the qualitative space 1 Samuel G. Armistead and Joseba Zulaika, eds., Voicing the Moment: Improvised Oral Poetry and Basque Tradition, (Reno: Center for Basque Studies Press, University of Nevada, Reno, 2003). 2 Xabier Irujo, “Bertso,” World Literature Today (September–October 2007), 44–45. created by bertsolaritza and especially the National Bertsolaritza Championship, the importance of this for creating and recreating (Basque) culture, and, finally, the participation of women bertsolaris in the feminist movement. Hernandez places the participation of women bertsolariak in the context of contemporary bertsolaritza. The trajectory of women bertsolaris may be summarized in three stages: (1) the “emergence” of women bertsolaris (in the 1980s and 1990s), (2) the preoccupa- tions and demands of women bertsolaris in search of their own identity and voice (the period between 2000 and 2010), and (3) the situation today: that created by the appearance of feminism on the stage, both within bertsolaritza itself but also among the audience and society as a whole. Bertsolaritza has traditionally depicted society by improvising on actual, problematic topics. The creation topic could be given by the theme-prompter or chosen freely by the improvisers.