euskalkultura.eus

Madrid, Spain.  Madrid’s Euskal Etxea announced many activities in its monthly circular. Worth noting are a concert on May 12 by the choir Kantaka, a dance performance on the occasion of San Isidro on May 15 and a talk by Patxi Abasolo, member of the Nafarroa Bizirik group, on the 500 anniversary of the conquest of Navarre on May 30 (more information at www.1512-2012.com).

But before this last activity the Euskal Etxea will celebrate a very special day with the Soccer Cup final between Athletic and Barcelona on May 25.  Thousands of Athletic fans are expected in the Spanish capital to support their team and the club has organized a series of activities around the event.  Activities will begin at 7:30pm with a concert at the headquarters of Jovellanos 3.  Following, at 9:00pm the game can be viewed on the gigantic screen in the Pello Aranburu room (due to room constraints entrees must be purchased ahead of time with preference being given to members).  More information is available on the Basque club’s website.

Poetry in Basque

Among April club activities it is worth mentioning that the first edition of the Basque Poetry contest was held at the Euskal Etxea.  The director of HABE Iñaki Uribe presided over the awards ceremony with first place going to Diego Garcia Murua, for his work Nire Aberria.  Second place went to Lander Arteaga Eguiluz, for Iratzartzea with third place being awarded to Cristina Saura Blanco, for Tantak.  Cristina Ruiz Baña received honorable mention for Izarrezko Mantua.

The first three places received prizes in the amounts of 100, 75 and 50 Euros respectively, along with educational material provided by HABE.  After the awards ceremony, the award-winning authors recited their poems and to conclude the documentary Bertsolari was shown.

Euskaltegi success

The Basque club is very successful when it comes to being an Euskaltegi, as demonstrated by the contest.  In this sense, it should be noted that among its students, almost 50 have asked to have their level of Basque proficiency tested according to HABE.  The reasons why so many students learn Basque at Madrid’s Basque club are diverse.  Some have decided to learn Basque because of their origin or because of sentimental reasons; others have been attracted by the peculiarities of the Basque language and the richness of the Basque culture; while others attend simply out of enjoyment, and consider it just another form of entertainment.

Many of the students are retirees who were forced to move to Madrid when they were little and have forgotten their Basque, but there are also foreigners like Nobuko from Japan, or Natalia Litvina from Russia, who despite her recent return to Moscow, continues to learn Basque via Moodle keeping in touch with the Basque club in Madrid. Additionally, the club is expecting a considerable increase in enrollment for the 2012-13 school year.