Mikel Laboa hil da

Okay, it's not exactly news now, but it happened last month when my blog was on hiatus and I've been meaning to post about it. In December, renowned Basque folk singer Mikel Laboa passed away. It would probably be fair to say he was the Basque Country's Pete Seeger or perhaps even Bob Dylan (appropriately enough, his final concert took place in 2006, when he opened for Bob Dylan in Donostia at a concert for peace). His signature piece was probably "Txoria txori" ("A bird is a bird"). Originally a popular folk tune about a bird that couldn't fly, Laboa's interpretation of it during the last years of the Franco regime turned the song into a political allegory for the Basque nation. It has become one of the most familiar and beloved songs in the Basque Country and I confess that I find it tremendously moving (I used to sing it to my kids at bedtime, so they'll either grow up loving it too or having vaguely troubling recollections of their father trying to sing).

Here are the lyrics:

Hegoak ebaki banizkio,
nirea izango zen,
ez zuen aldegingo.
Bainan honela
ez zen gehiago txoria izango,
eta nik txoria nuen maite.

Here's a rough translation:

If I had cut its wings
It would have been mine
It would not have flown away
But, it would have been a bird no longer
And I loved the bird.

This is the original version of the song from 1974:

Txoria Txori (from Bat Hiru).mp3 - Mikel Laboa

And here is a full orchestral version from 2000. I'm usually not a fan of such arrangements, but I think this is really effective. Note how the fragility of Laboa's lone voice stands out against the powerful backdrop of a large choir of united voices: it underscores quite nicely the aesthetic and political dimensions of the song.

Txoria Txori - Mikel Laboa