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Six adults and two toddlers are, so far, the first eight members of Nashville, Tennessee’s still unofficial and ‘under-construction’ Basque Club. Last Thursday they had their first get-together at a cafeteria in downtown. “It was great,” Nicole Wilbur told EuskalKultura.com. “First we are going to focus on building an online presence so that people can find us,” she added.

Nashville, TN. “We are very excited to keep building from here,” says Nicole Wilbur, main promoter, along with Tom Fauce, of the soon-to-be first Euskal Etxea in Tennessee. The two caught up with other fellow Basques at a cafeteria in downtown Nashville, for the first time, last Thursday. “It was great!”

Attendees talked about their origins and planned the next steps of the Club: “First we are going to focus on building an online presence so that people can find us. Then we will try to actively seek out Basques living in our area,” explained Wilbur.

There are eight members, so far –including two toddlers−: Amaia Agirre, a musician that moved from Larrabetzu, Bizkaia; Amaya Michelena, who moved from Seattle with her family (including the very young Bibi); Tom Fauce, native of Los Angeles who has lived in the music city since the mid 1990’s (and his son Vincent and sister Marti); and Nicole Wilbur and her daughter Kirrily.

The Michelenas are originally from Arantza, in Nafarroa. Agustin and Fidel, Amaya’s father and uncle respectively, migrated to California in the late 1950’. The two brothers settled in Washington State in the 70’s and ran shake and shingle mills. Agustin sold his mill in 1991 and, now, raises cattle and sheep in his retirement. Fidel is still working full time at his mill at the age of 74, with no signs of slowing down. Amaya moved with her own family to Tennessee.

Tom’s, Marti’s, and Vincent’s Basque ancestors were also from Nafarroa. Pilar Iriarte, Tom’s and Marti’s grandmother, was born in Domeño, a little spot situated less than 30 miles south-east from Iruñea-Pamplona.

Regarding Nicole, her great grandfather, Jose White Horse Joe Yraguen, was from Natxitua, Bizkaia. He moved to the US and became a ranch hand/sheepherder in Eastern Oregon. He saved money for eleven years before finally being able to bring his beloved Claudia Acordagoitia to the states. Their son, Nicole’s grandfather Epifanio Yraguen, was born and lived most of his life in Vale, Oregon, where she was also raised. She has a very young daughter, Kirrily, who is also part of the group.

Growing, slowly but surely

Almost two months ago, NABO’s weekly newsletter Astero announced that Nicole Yraguen Wilbur and Tom Fauce were looking for other Basques in the Nashville area to form the first Euskal Etxea in Tennessee. “Since NABO sent that newsletter we found out that we were more people. We even received some emails from other states, like Georgia,” said she. “People are looking for Clubs in the south.”

Nicole missed her Basque Club days in Ontario, Oregon: “I moved to Nashville for college in 1998, but I missed having a Basque Club.” She had been thinking of organizing a Basque get-together for some time. “I’m a musician but I’ve worked as a waitress too and I’d see Basque names on people’s cards and I’d think, ‘that’s Basque!’”

In hopes of organizing something Basque in the music city, she encouraged her friend Tom Fauce to go to this year’s Jaialdi, in Boise, Idaho which he knew very little about: “I knew his mother’s side was Basque but he didn’t know a lot about that. He was very excited when he came from Jaialdi.”

The  2000 US Census said there were 145 people in Tennessee who self-identified as Basques, and Yraguen believes that now there are probably more and she’d like to get everybody in touch: “It’s very exciting. We can’t wait to get something started.” The first stitches to create the first Tennessee Basque Club have already been sewn.

- If you live in the Tennessee area or have Basque friends and families who do, please contact Nicole at musiccitybasques@gmail.com