The 100 Greatest Recordings Ever: #73, Basque (Anon.)

The Alan Lomax Collection

Arantza Goikoetxea
12.25" x 7.75"
oil on wood, 2010

Good news is that a series of cds containing field recordings from Spain and Italy have become available as part of The Alan Lomax Collection. Bad news is that there are suddenly a whole bunch of cds out there I want to buy. Good news is that they have them at Half Price Books, right around the corner, for only $8.99 each. Bad news is that you'd spend 90 bucks to get 10. Good news is that it's almost Christmas. Bad news is that some vinyl I've treasured so dearly have become pretty much obsolete because the cds contain so much more music, pictures, and text than the LPs did.
I bought one from The Spanish Recording series, one from the Basque Country: Biscay and Guipuzcoa. Looking through the series I searched for Vascona because my favorite tune from a great 4 record set I have called Anthology of Spanish Folklore Music is from there; Ariñ-Ariñ is an anonymous recording from Viscaya, Vascona. I couldn't find either the title or the region so I settled for the Basque Cd. Little did I know but my intuition was rewarded because as it turns out Vascona is the same as Basconia, which is in turn the same as Basque while Viscaya is the very same place as Biscay. Lo and behold the liner notes state that the track Porrusalda is also known as Ariñ-Ariñ.  the tune is not anonymous, it is sung and played by Arantza and Andoni Goikoetxea. And better yet: The booklet to the Cd contains a picture of Arantza Goikoetxea, I started painting right away!

And it didn't take long... The recording, by the way, was recorded by Alan Lomax in 1952, four years before football player Andoni Goikoetxea was born (in Biscay), and thirteen before Barcelona player from the Dream Team years Andoni Goikoetxea was born. Wonder if any one of them is related to Andoni, the 'alboka' player on the recording, and/or his sister Arantza.