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Berlin, Germany. Last Saturday, the Berlin Euskal Etxea joined in the Summer Festival at the Strenberg Grundschule, elementary school in the capital, providing Alboka and Txalaparta workshops.  The theme of the event was “Around the world,” and the idea was to provide girls and boys the possibility to get to know cultures of the various communities in the city, including the Basque.

The Alboka and Txalaparta workshops organized by the Basque club were in three parts according to Ainhoa Añorga, club president.  “In the first place, for the youngest set there were pictures to culture of an Alboka, so they could take it home with them.  Secondly, we taught them how to breathe to place the Alboka, with some exercises with a glass of water and a straw. They saw how hard it was and how much you have to practice.” Ainhoa also explained that after teaching them how to breathe they tried to play with some of them successfully playing some notes. 

[There were lines to play both the small and normal-sized Txalaparta (photoBerlinEE)]

The third workshop was the Txalaparta.  The Euskal Etxea put together two of them, one of normal size and another one for the smaller children that kids could play with smaller sticks. “And not only the kids, but parents and teachers all wanted to play.  In addition, the school’s music teacher also asked about the Txalaparta in order to include it in one of her classes, because she liked it so much,” said Ainhoa.

The Basque club is very satisfied with the experience and hopes to repeat it in the future.  “The best was the explanations given by the children to journalists from a radio station that was at the festival.  They were fascinated and couldn’t believe that they could make music with some wood, or have such a good time doing so,” she concluded.