Other CBS Publications
Published by the Center for Basque Studies. To order contact the Center for Basque Studies (775.682.5587) or you may request titles from any major book dealer, who will obtain them on order if they are not in stock.
The Girl Who Swam to Euskadi /
Euskadiraino igerian joan zen neska
by Mark Kurlansky
illustrated by Mark Kurlansky
Basque translation by Javier Cillero Goiriastuena
A small girl, while practicing swimming in Gloucester, Massachusetts, accidentally swims to Euskadi and finds a strange land of strange customs and remarkable beauty. (Juvenile literature; bilingual: English and Euskara). Reno: Center for Basque Studies, University of Nevada, Reno, 2005.
32 pages. Cloth, $18.95 (ISBN 1-877802-54-9).
Joanes or the Basque Whaler:
The Flying Whaleboat
by Guillermo Zubiaga
The Flying whaleboat is a graphic novel set in the golden age of Basque Whaling. This is the first volume of a fictional epic tale scattered with Basque mythological references. Joanes, the protagonist, was inspired by the real-life whaler Joanes de Etxaniz from Orio, Gipuzkoa who died in Canada in 1584.
This comic book combines history, myth, and fantasy and reflects the author's intention of entertaining while educating his readers about an emblematic occupation of the historic Basques. Zubiaga views Basque whaling as an epic equal to that of American cowboys, Norwegian Vikings, or Japanese Samurais.
Reno: Center for Basque Studies, University of Nevada, Reno, 2009.
36 pages. Paper, $5.00
Urraska: A New Interpretation of the Basque Jauziak Dances as Interpreted by Sagaseta
The jauziak, mutxikoak, or sauts basques are circular dances in which the participants, without making physical contact with one another and keeping the center of the circle as a reference point, execute certain steps or dance moves that vary according to each particular dance.
The Basque group of musicians, dancers, and educators Aiko have teamed up with the Center for Basque Studies to publish this important update of these popular folklore dances. Based on the pioneering ethnomusicological work of Miguel Angel Sagaseta, the Urraska is a complete guide to the dances including a book in Euskara and English, 2 CDs, a DVD of dance performances, a guide to the dance steps for performing the jauziak dances, and PDF copies of the text in Spanish and French.
"It is worth remembering how important it is for the musician-interpreter to understand, execute, and internalize dance in order to be able to 'hear' its rhythm and thus follow the dancers, to feel the correct tempo for each dance, each step, and each dantzaria; to understand that rhythm is a musical and not a mathematical measurement, and that bar and beat vary in each dance and each step. For this reason, we only know one track: learn to dance, know 'the score" of the dance, and make it part of the self. If one does not do so, for all the technical studying one does, all of our proposals will ultimately be ineffective and inadequate for practicing dance."