You get up in the morning and take your son to school. You had to start in Spanish at school.

Yes, I studied Basque until I was 14 years old. When I started in Larraul and the local school closed, I was in Asteu. It was then a national school and two years younger had the opportunity to start in Basque. I remember that the moment came when I thought about the Erda and then I said it was over. It didn’t cost me much to change, and in high school I took advantage of the opportunity to learn Basque, although more than half followed it. There was a strong tendency to do it in small towns. The language of prestige was Spanish. 34 years later, we have been able to go back to school in Larraul and I hope we have little to talk about Basque and the quality of Basque.

He returns home, spreads the newspaper and comes up with an article about the future intentions of the Basque Country Bertsozale Association.

In 20 years, the Association has done a hard job of not believing in poetry. It has been the main lever of bertsolarismo and the results are obvious. This 20-year trajectory is a strong guarantee to address future aspirations. I am proud to be a member of the Association. However, going down to concession, the main short-term bet should be to consolidate the general and shared project. We consider research to be a tool of great value, but I still have to take the next step zaigu.Uste, because in addition to the analysis of versionality, we have the essentials, both the evaluation of the 20 to 25 years that goes beyond the Association’s trajectory, as well as the analysis of the reality of versionism today as complete as possible. How will we set future goals and priorities without a shared diagnosis of the situation?

Below the main article is a table about verse schools.

Great and interesting steps are being taken in the transmission of bertsolarismo. The global transmission plan that the Association is working on will bear fruit. What I hope is that, once again, the school of verses will not stop as the poor brother of the transmission family. As a writer, however, I feel that we have (or have) a deficit in training. We would need the next part of the basic training that is learned in the school of verses. I don’t know how long, and I know that the main formation will always be what one can cultivate. “And how do you improve in verse from now on?” asked a young man who has been in verse school for many years, on the eve of the Gipuzkoa championship. I couldn't get a straight answer. I think a high school like Musikene is needed, but it will be a little late for me.

You have remembered the verse that spoke of the need to mix with other disciplines and enrich each other.

I have doubts about these other disciplines. Perhaps, and starting with me, we need to know more about other realities. A lot of social issues. We need to know the world we sing.

You close the newspaper and you stand in front of the computer. It's been a year since you created bertsoa.com...

Bertsoa.com The digital verse square was born with the vocation of being a thematic channel on bertsolarismo with a high dose of experimentation. In 2007 he broadcasted 200 acts of verse on the network, many of them live. This year, he has made a bet on live broadcasts. Each week he will give a live verse session and the verse lovers will soon have their own space to upload videos. In addition to following the information, he will also organize four round tables in collaboration with the weekly Luz. From my point of view, there is a great imbalance between what is created in the squares and what is collected and disseminated. It may seem like a contradiction, but just as bertsolarismo has gained prestige in society, the verse – the verse creation itself – has lost, or has not won in the same proportion. Only the event, which currently brings together 13,000 people, is broadcast live on the main media. With the current presence of bertsolarismo in society, there is enough substance to make it more widespread.

You turn off your computer, get in the car, and you're on your way to a verse lunch. As you walk past an abandoned factory, you read a painting: “The occupation.”

My time of occupation was not motivated by the passion to change the world at 18 years old. We lived the philosophy of occupation, but it was more the opportunity to be with the people of the area where I identified. My parents didn’t like the decision too much and we had cricket cracks. This concern was compounded by the way he left home. Some get married, others at 25... There are ways and means of getting out of the house, some more legitimate, and some more... Understandably, for parents, moving their 20-year-old son to a house that used to be a civil guard barracks isn’t the easiest thing to do. In addition, the occupation was then associated with drugs, with self-infliction. I knew where I was going and where I wasn't, but... Taking the path to becoming a playwright was important for parents.

The road sign says you're approaching the finish line. You have started to focus on the session, on what you want to do, on the verse you want to show...

I'm not the one who knows what he wants to do in every session. In most cases, the moment and the environment have more influence than one’s own desires or powers. Aesthetic pleasure is a beautiful thing, and I try to make my verses create it as well. But I wouldn’t want to lose myself in intention, authenticity and courage. In the last 10 to 12 years great importance has been given to the discursive side of the verse (communication, rhetoric, persuasion...), but what is behind the discourse has remained there, behind. I am not too impressed by the virtuosity of the verse, and both originality and imagination in their own emptiness do not always seem to me to be meritorious, at least when they are a medium of escape. It is often more difficult to place oneself in front of reality, to face it with sincerity, humility, and from one’s own perspective, as well as to cast good and original verses. Maybe I’m in a phase where I thought differently 15 years ago but I’m not looking for too much meaning to try to do some things.

You've arrived at the citation in time. Take it easy. You have nothing to do with that boy who was late and burned when he worked at the Hernani Chronicle...

If I hadn’t been in verse I would have continued in the Chronicle, I was sorry to leave it. But the time of the Chronicle was a madness for verses. Not being able to reach some sessions, having to leave others... It is clear to me that he influenced me, or rather than influenced me, he cut off my development of verse. But anyway, he gave me a lot of other good stuff. If I hadn't gone through the chronicle, I wouldn't have created Bertsoa.com.

There's the organizer, too. You talked about this and that, and one day, he asked, “Do you live by the verse?” in amazement.

It’s also a craft for me. There are quite a few times when it is necessary to listen to this question, and I am unable to find out where the sin is. I don’t know if it has anything to do with the loss of prestige of the verse creation I was talking about earlier. Currently, there could be 60-65 people dedicated professionally to bertsolarismo in different areas and organizations. But it's curious to surprise people only with bertsolaris. The lowest percentage of those who dedicate themselves to bertsolarismo is that of bertsolaris, and in most cases we complement the performance of bertsolaris with other activities. It’s been a long time since the last 20 years, but I don’t know if we’re ever more of a farmer.

You sit at the table, and the young bertsolari across the street, you feel burnt out with the tournament. Things haven't gone as they'd like.

We should show that not only do we have ambition, but the world doesn’t end up in the championship, but by setting an example for ourselves, and that’s the point. Transmitting what we don’t feel is difficult, but not transmitting what we feel seems more difficult. If the tournament is not the most important, let’s show that it doesn’t matter so much, from the bertsolaris to the organizers. Criticizing the frustrations of people or young people while this is not done is not real. I’ve had to relativize the tournament, but thanks to the tournaments I’ve had the opportunity to make a great career. What do you call that 18-20 year old?

It's crossed your mind that you were his age...

I have always dreamed of being a musician. I didn’t know what it was going to end in, whether I was going to walk in the square or not, but my priority was verse. The Lizardi Award takes place at the beginning of September, and there is no shortage of work on the farm during the summer. However, listening to my father’s rebuke, exhausted, and abandoning those who were and those who were not, we gathered at Asturies to do it in verse. This point of obsession is essential to get anywhere and also to continue when you arrive.

Then your grandfather said to you: “I don’t think you’re in high school!”

“No, no, no. “You’re not doing well,” I replied. Some people have this need for cleanliness. I was not able to start or finish the verse in 90-91. In my head I would have done some verses, I would have been an amateur, we worked on points in the group, but from there I owe the school of verses the way to learn to finish and improve the verse. You can leave without a team but not without learning. In our case, the team environment has also helped us a lot, because it has allowed us to develop bertsolarismo according to the different phases of life.

Start singing, and the storyteller asks you to tell the story of your childhood home.

I am the last of a family of eight, and the first to be born had the path well opened. I had a nephew when I was eight. I remember that my grandparents and my uncle lived with us and that on the weekends we had a lot of amazing people. I've worked hard on the farm for 20 years, but I've never experienced trauma. I have never said in Hernani that I am not from Larrau or that I am not from the farm.

The session is over. You get up from the table and your old acquaintance grabs you by the neck: “Be careful, you’re sliding into pure fun.”

Perhaps the fact that each space and moment has been labeled can create this sensation. Serious in the championship, humorous at the table, at the festivals everything... But I think we keep the balance in general. Pure fun has a very short path. In the sessions where this happens, it is perceived, it does not satisfy people or the bertsolari. Whether the verse is a festive performance or a playful area, doing it in verse is singing to reality, and when you are singing to reality in the Basque Country, there will be playful parties, but also teludic ones.

You get in the car and on your way home you realize that you’ve been walking from square to square for over fifteen years.

During this period the number of sessions has increased and the performance has diversified. The proportion of food festivals has changed significantly, and the format that requires more hours in verses has prevailed. On the other hand, despite not reaching the numbers of the boom period, in recent years there are many people in the squares. The variety of sessions is also greater. The circuits of the square, the experiments, the special productions that each one works with... There is a wide range of possibilities. This is directly related to the dedication to bertsolarismo, which is more than healthy for bertsolarismo, it is absolutely necessary.

You come home and open your agenda to find out when you have your next session. In a little while. Fortunately for you.

If I don't get enough to eat what I'd like to offer to the bertsolaris, I know what I'm going to have to do. I dedicate myself to the verse so that I can offer something better. My values of bertsolarismo have not changed, but I have gained in intensity in the time of defending, in the contemplation of legitimacy.