Txalaparta Demonstration And Workshop In Dublin!

dublin | miscellaneous | event notice Thursday June 13, 2013 13:34 by Dublin Basque - Dublin Irish Basque Solidarity Committee basquedublin at gmail dot com

The Txalaparta is an old traditional uniquely Basque percussion instrument

Two txalapartaris will be performing and conducting a workshop at the Cobblestone on Sunday and playing at the Alternative G8 Concert at Club na Múinteoirí on Monday.

A rare opportunity to hear this instrument and to even try it out under expert instruction. The txalaparta is made from wooden boards placed on trestles. Originally, the boards were used to press apples and make cider. When the first batch was fermented, the boards, then dried off, were struck with sticks and the sound traveled across mountains and down into the valleys, summoning people to drink. In time, people could even tell which cider-maker was calling by the rhythms.

Later, the boards were shortened and developed as a music instrument, struck with long round strikers and txalaparta-playing became a recognised artistic expression. As with much Basque cultural expression there was a retreat, especially in the first decades of Franco's repression of the Basque Country but during the 1960s there began a resurgence which continues to this day. Txalaparta-playing is quite popular nowadays in the Basque Country but usually with short wooden strikers.