ARADAK
Josu Okiñena

ARADAK

Josu Okiñena

Año publicación: 2020

Josu Okiñena, piano

No Man Is An Island

No man is an island entire of itself; every man
is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;
if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe  
is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as 
well as any manner of thy friends or of thine 
own were; any man's death diminishes me, 
because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom
the bell tolls; it tolls for thee. 

John Donne.

The collecting and compiling of scattered pieces, reassembling them in order to understand a unique world which, through its very intimacy, becomes choral and universal: that was the task undertaken by the pianist and researcher, Josu Okiñena, when he began to collect pieces by composers with Basque roots or who were influenced by the Basque Country in different parts of the world. He was also able to find a part of his own life and assemble an intimate story that has become a kind of treasure map. That map has been sketched out with every journey, with every piece discovered, and is part of the same treasure. That treasure has become part of world heritage: never ending, like the journey itself.

If, as the poem by John Donne states, we are “a piece of the continent, a part of the main”, this musical quest is proof that we are not alone in the world. It demonstrates that every return journey is also a road that points towards the return. This is particularly true given that music is the universal language in its own right. 

Basque music is Basque because of its roots, origins, influences and tradition dating back to prehistory. These twenty pieces selected by Okiñena on his journey, and others that he has also encountered along the way, tell stories of faraway lands and rock cradles surrounded by vegetation beside the forest, jungle or volcano. They are like spells invoking past lives in every place throughout the world where the Basque diaspora sowed its seeds. 

Okiñena enjoys multiplying his selves through different forms, which is why his metamorphosis is rooted in the temperament of the pieces he performs, as if he were invoking each composer with his own drive and language, a kind of spell or communion emerging from his encounter with a historic temperament, silences understood through the exoticism of the distances of outward and return journeys that he has taken with his music. Basque expansion is sketched out via this transformational journey through the music recovered in Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, France and different places in Spain, but fundamentally in Latin America, from the 16th century and subsequently through another massive migration following the Spanish Civil War. It is clear, therefore, that this cultural influence has impacted upon universal music far more than recognisably Basque pieces collected in many countries. It is also detected in the integration of Basque folklore rooted in variations of local music. Every musician with Basque roots who has left for other lands in search of opportunities, when it seemed that there was no hope, has also taken with them a part of their land. However, rather than diminish home, they have multiplied its culture, influence and traditions. This can be clearly glimpsed in the twenty pieces making up this painstaking work by Josu Okiñena, the majority of them world premieres which for the first time find and embrace their public like a sea seen through new eyes: the Basque footprint has been left throughout the world.

So do not send to know why this music exists or for whom today this piano sounds, for surely, and even though you may not know it, it also sounds for you.

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