4
The Representation of Women in the
Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries
Trikitixa
1
Gurutze Lasa Zuzuarregui
INTRODUCTION
Music is an important expression of the political, social, and cultural con-
text of contemporary society. Furthermore, musical lyrics have a signifi-
cant influence on the construction, perpetuation, and/or the transformation
of gender structures and roles. Nevertheless, little research has been car-
ried out on Basque music from this perspective.
This work intends to contribute to this emerging line of research and
favor the critical transmission and reception of music. To this end, the final
results are presented of a semantic and socio-cultural study of the audio
heritage left by a deeply rooted musical expression of the Basque culture
2
:
the trikitixa.
In the first section of this article, a definition of “trikitixa” will be pro-
vided to introduce the particular characteristics that constitute this musical
expression and to establish the definition that will be used throughout this
work. The history of the trikitixa will then be explained in order to contex-
tualize the focus of this study.
The second section will specify the objectives, criteria, corpus, and
methodology used to carry out the semantic and socio-cultural analysis.
The third part of the work presents the final results of the study. The
most significant themes and songs will be highlighted, and it is proposed
that they are actively listened to via current applications. It should be noted
that reference will be made to the artist or musical group that includes,
within its record production, the musical composition, and that this does
not always coincide with the authorship of the literary texts.
Among the texts mentioned are the kopla zaharrak or couplets. Numer-
ous artists and musical groups from the last 40 years have reused this type
of literary text, resulting in hybrid compositions that combine musical
innovation with texts that, from a semantic point of view, reflect previ-
ous socio-cultural contexts. However, musical groups of the new millen-
nium have tended to write their own lyrics. Today, newly created groups
where female members predominate show a clear tendency not only to
compose their own texts but also to transform previous discourses from a
gender perspective. Thus, the fourth part of this study aims to raise, from
51
52 Gurutze Lasa Zuzuarregui
a gender perspective, this discussion of the reuse of old couplets in the
current socio-cultural context and, finally, to extract the conclusions of the
study on the representation of women in the trikitixa of the twentieth and
twenty-first centuries.
TRIKITIXA: DEFINITION AND HISTORY
The term “trikitixa” is a polysemic concept whose meaning continues
to be debated. The evolution that it has undergone since the end of the
nineteenth century and the meanings attributed by specialists, interpreters,
and citizens make it difficult to reach a consensus on the specific use and
meaning of the concept in question. According to the ethnomusicologist
Juan Mari Beltran, it is an onomatopoeia derived from the sound “trikiti-
trikiti” produced by hitting the pandero
3
or tambourine with the fingers.
However, Kepa Perez Urraza uses the term to refer to the combination
of the diatonic accordion and the tambourine.
4
Thus, “trikitixa” is often
used to describe the musical group formed by the person who plays the
soinu txiki or diatonic accordion (soinujole) and the person who plays the
pandero or tambourine (panderojole) (Aguirre 1992: 21). According to
Rafael Aguirre, one of the four pieces traditionally played by this group
is known as “trikitixa”,
5
and the same concept is also used for the dance
associated with the sound of the diatonic accordion and the tambourine
(Aguirre 1992: 21–22). Currently, “trikitixa” is often used to refer to the
diatonic accordion.
6
According to Rafael Aguirre, in addition to the accordion and the tam-
bourine, the third element of the trikitixa is the voice (1992: 152). Through
the vocals, the old koplas
7
the bertsos,
8
and the irrintzi
9
are transmitted, as
well as, as of the 1980s, songs of diverse nature.
Considering the focus of this study, the way that the term has been used
in the past and the validity of its use by the population, throughout this
work the term “trikitixa” will be understood as the expression or musical
genre resulting from the variable combination of the previously mentioned
instrumental, vocal, and literary elements.
The instruments and their use, the training, the melodies, the themes,
the places of performance, the socio-economic relevance, and the profile
of the person linked to the trikitixa have evolved alongside Basque society
from the end of the nineteenth century to the present day.
Together with the alboka,
10
the tambourine was used by musical groups
for the romerías (religious festivals) that were held in the vicinity of rural
hermitages. It was the women who usually played the tambourine and,
therefore, sang the couplets (Aguirre 1992: 52, 152). According to Aingeru
Berguices, the conduction of the public dance allowed these women (pan-
deretereak) to exert the only managerial role socially accepted to women in
the public sphere (Berguices 2019: 55). Aingeru Berguices adds that they
fed and reproduced the traditional literature of this musical expression,
sustained and minimized the internal tensions of the population through
the irony they used in the improvised couplets, and their public exposure
encouraged the collective participation of other women (2019: 55, 57).
53 The Representation of Women
The introduction of the diatonic accordion at the end of the nineteenth
century constituted an important change in the music of the time, espe-
cially in rural areas of the Basque Country. Although the theory that it was
introduced through the port of Bilbao is widespread in the world of the
trikitixa, Rafael Aguirre believes it is more likely that it originated from
the arrival of workers from Piedmont and Valle de Aosta, hired in 1860
for the construction of the Beasain-Olazagutia section of the Irun-Madrid
railway line (1992: 13, 41).
Due to its sound, it allowed a wide range of individuals to play many dif-
ferent melodies, the diatonic accordion was immediately accepted by pop-
ular musicians and, above all, by the population of rural Basque-speaking
towns in Gipuzkoa and Bizkaia. Thus, although initially it was introduced
to accompany the tambourine, it acquired greater prominence, relegating
the tambourine to a secondary instrument (Harana 1986: 32). According to
Mielanjel Harana, it also replaced the txistu as a dance instrument (1986:
33) and relegated the alboka (Aguirre 1992: 97).
A meeting point for a dispersed population and a focus of leisure and
courtship, the trikitixa was an indispensable element of romerias in her-
mitages and festivals. In a society governed by a strict education in Catho-
lic doctrine, the isolation of the hermitages facilitated an escape from the
control not only of the family but also of civil and ecclesiastical authori-
ties, and at the same time the music fostered relationships between couples
(Aguirre 1992: 68). This led the Church to consider the diatonic accordion
as Inpernuko auspoa or the Bellows of Hell. Rafael Aguirre adds that the
social stigma of soinu txikia was also contributed to by factors such as its
acceptance by subordinate social groups, its foreign origin, its opposition
to the established order, and the discredit of its music (1992: 77–78).
However, despite this stigmatization and the decadence of the romerías
of the hermitages, the trikitixa, in general, and the diatonic accordion, in
particular, continued to evolve prior to the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939),
adapting to a Basque society which was increasingly urban. According
to Rafael Aguirre, groups of trikitixa were often formed by two or more
soinujoles and several panderojoles (1992: 97), and thus enlivened moun-
tain marches, Basque fiestas and other celebrations organized by political
parties and societies (Aguirre 1992: 90). According to Joxean Agirre, it
was also an indispensable element in the batzarres or gatherings that were
organized in the neighborhood bars; once the beloved had been accompa-
nied to her house, the men returned to continue singing some of the most
picaresque couplets (Agirre 1983: 2). In this way, “schools”
11
of trikitixa
were formed, such as the Zegama school, which, according to the testi-
mony of Miguel Urteaga,
12
influenced the Trikitixa of Zumarraga.
The panderojole Joxe Oria and the soinujole (or trikitilari) Joxe Lar-
rañaga Etxasakorta would be the first to record a Trikitixa album in 1924.
According to Miguel Urteaga,
13
the recording was made in the studios that
the Regal record company (later absorbed by Columbia) had in the Kursaal
in Donostia. This slate record consisted of four pieces, and Regal published
it under the title “Triki-triki de Zumarraga”. This album was the first work
of the 13 Trikitixa albums recorded between 1924 and 1936 (Figure 4.1).
14
54 Gurutze Lasa Zuzuarregui
Figure 4.1 The record “Jota vasca” played by Serafín y Antonia Aranceta
Compañía del Gramófono Odeon S.A.E., [1941]
15
Source: ERESBIL – Basque Archive of Music
After the Spanish Civil War, the changes introduced by the trikitilari
Jacinto Rivas Elgeta in the diatonic accordion would continue with his
pupil Faustino Aspiazu Sakabi (Harana 1986: 33–34). Likewise, the
musical heritage of the trikitixa would begin to gain pace again with the
Trikitixa from Zumarraga. As Miguel Urteaga remembers,
16
the broth-
ers Urteaga-Oria and Joxe Miguel Ormazabal recorded the first post-war
album in 1957. The record company Columbia published the work under
the title “Bailables vascos populares” (popular Basque dance tunes).
The trikitixa was acquiring social relevance, becoming a source of
income in a society where the expansion of radio meant a revolution
for popular music as the television appeared and foreign cultural trends
arrived. From 1961, the radio station Loiola Irratia became the ideal media
for recording and broadcasting the trikitixa. The use of the diatonic accor-
dion also continued to evolve, especially in the hands of performers such
as Iñaki Garmendia Laja and Martin Aginagalde and the accordionist
55 The Representation of Women
Pepe Yantzi (Harana 1986: 34). Mielanjel Harana affirms that within a
few years a marked difference in technique developed between traditional
and innovative “schools” and “styles” (1986: 34).
Together with the performances in the villages, from the 1960s onwards
the trikitixa championships, promoted by the speaker Irratia Joxe Mari
Iriondo from Loiola Irratia, reflected the evolution of social relevance and
the trends that were predominating within the trikitixa. The death of dicta-
tor Franco made way for the so-called Spanish Transition (1975–1982).
Basque society experienced a political, social, and cultural emergence. As
far as trikitixa, the 1986 and 1988 championships demonstrated the draw
of this musical expression and highlighted the existing debate between
those who backed the traditional trikitixa and those who supported experi-
menting with the diatonic accordion, as in the performances of the innova-
tive Tapia eta Leturia and Kepa Junkera.
The latter did not participate in the last championship held in 1991,
and each embarked on musical paths that opened up new territory in the
trikitixa scene, based on former traditions. In this way, they would set
a precedent for future generations by introducing new instruments and
musical expressions and fusing the inherited musical and instrumental
tradition with other rhythms, languages, and cultures. The old couplets,
bertsos, and songs passed on orally, the existing audio heritage and secret
recordings of the romerías of the time, did little to reflect the worldview
of the new generation that burst onto the trikitixa scene in the 1980s. Thus,
from a desire to express their own vision of contemporary Basque society,
new texts were created by bertsolaris and contemporary authors.
17
The
musicians themselves also gradually began to learn how to shed their com-
plexes caused by previous social undervaluation of trikitixa and to write
the lyrics for the melodies they created. Tapia eta Leturia even introduced
a new concept of the musical group and transformed the traditional soinu-
jole and panderojole ensemble into a live band.
This new paradigm quickly became established and transformed the world
of the trikitixa from a formal and semantic point of view. This is evidenced
by the boom in bands that emerged from the 1990s onwards. The trikitixa
not only continued to demonstrate its ability to coexist, adapt, and expand
but also became one of the favorite musical expressions of female Basque
artists. Among the numerous bands of so-called Triki pop and Triki rock,
there were mixed-sex and all-female bands who would become creators of
a previously almost non-existent female tradition.
18
Likewise, the appear-
ance, in the “Post Pum”
19
age (Matxain 2017: 46–47), of the “Millennials”
would impact on the formation and transmission of new musical discourses,
which would contribute to the shaping of new identities.
ETA EMAKUMEAK, ZER? [WHAT ABOUT
THE WOMEN?]
This article presents the final results of a study carried out in order to elu-
cidate how women have been represented in the musical heritage of the
trikitixa of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. It also aims to discern
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