Olaeta Basque Festival of Bilbao to appear

November 7, 1968

The Olaeta Basque Festival of Bilbao, on their second coast-to-coast tour of this country, will appear at 8:00 p.m. on Thursday, November 21, in the University of California, San Diego, Gymnasium.

The Olaeta Festival will be bringing with them a tradition completely unique unto themselves.

As the oldest homogeneous racial group in Europe and a people whom many scientists consider to be the oldest on earth, possibly dating from as far back as the Stone Age, the Basques have a folk heritage unlike any other. The songs and dances that the Olaeta Basque Festival performs on American stages are the same songs and dances that have been sung and clapped to by the Basques in their French and Spanish homelands for centuries and that are still a part of their lives today.

Victor Olaeta, the creator of the Oleata Basque Festival of Bilbao, is a choreographer and dancer who also holds Master degrees in composition and conducting from the Bilbao Conservatory of Music. He is the recognized authority and foremost exponent of Basque folklore, and he is a regular member of juries judging folklore contests in Spain and throughout Europe.

The Olaeta Basque Festival of Bilbao, a colorful and exciting company of 20 dancers, singers and instrumentalists, are celebrated for their virtuosity throughout the seven Basque provinces which nestle on both sides of the Western Pyrenees, in Spain and France.

The dances occupy a prominent place in the program and will include from their repertoire the Dance of Honor from Aurresku, the Dagger Dance, Dance of the Basketmakers and the Rounds from Leiza. Equally impressive is the singing of the Basques, the distillation of a long and isolated tradition. As much a part of the Basque Festival as its dances and songs are the musicians who perform on the traditional Basque instruments.

Unreserved seating for the UCSD program is $2.00.