Kirikoketa
Encyclopedia
The kirikoketa is a specialized Basque music
wooden device akin to the txalaparta
and closely related to working activities. It is classified as an idiophone
(a percussion instrument
). It has lately caught on with cultural circles from the Basque Country at a local level.
. Men used to work for some 8 days in this process and on the day, they gathered together in the village market square and celebrated with the tools employed in their work, playing the kirikoketa while singing the following tune along: "Kirikoketa, kirikoketa, kirikoketa, koketa, koketa, sagarra jo dela, sagarra jo dela, sagarra jo dela, jo dela, jo dela” (accompanying each syllable with a beat).
The inhabitants from the region of the river Bidasoa
and Baztan
(to the north of Navarre
) continued the custom for centuries until it almost died out in the 1920s. Yet thanks to the Basque culture revival and field research carried out by Basque scholars and culture activists, especially since the 1960s, it has enhanced its public profile out of the limbo during the last years, like the renaissance of the txalaparta
, though to a far lesser extent.
ic pattern as a means to enlivening the long process. The pattern remains similar: two or three people standing in front of the board beat it each with a striker, they may move along the board in search of different sounds and try faster/slower and harder/softer beats on it. When there are three people playing, the rhythm
ic pattern is a ternary one (3/8 time or simple triple). Optionally, a player may choose not to strike on the board on their turn (rest). Alongside the beating performance, the players may engage in singing.
) since approx. 2001 and is organized by the Society Jo Ala Jo Elkartea, aimed both at showcasing old cider practices by staging a re-enactment of the cider making process and encouraging the use of the kirikoketa as a musical instrument.
Basque music
The strict classification of Basque music remains a controversial issue, complicated in part by the growing diversification of such music, but by and large it is made in the Basque Country, it reflects traits related to that society/tradition and it is devised by people from the Basque...
wooden device akin to the txalaparta
Txalaparta
The txalaparta is a specialized Basque music device of wood or stone, similar to Romanian toacă. In Basque, zalaparta means "racket", while in the nearby areas of Navarre "txalaparta" has been attested as meaning the trot of the horse, a sense closely related to the sound of the...
and closely related to working activities. It is classified as an idiophone
Idiophone
An idiophone is any musical instrument which creates sound primarily by way of the instrument's vibrating, without the use of strings or membranes. It is the first of the four main divisions in the original Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification...
(a percussion instrument
Percussion instrument
A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
). It has lately caught on with cultural circles from the Basque Country at a local level.
Instrument
The kirikoketa, named after the sound it emits, consists of a single board some 1.5m long and two or three strikers the height of a person, one per person, with a cone shaped wide base. Hammers may be used too by hitting them against the board. But for a small elevation, the board stands almost at the ground level sustained on two low and soft mounds at both ends.Origin and development
Like many other Basque sound instruments and sport activities, the kirikoketa stems from and/or is linked to working activities. This specific instrument comes directly from the apple pressing process in which the fruits are ground down for making ciderCider
Cider or cyder is a fermented alcoholic beverage made from apple juice. Cider varies in alcohol content from 2% abv to 8.5% abv or more in traditional English ciders. In some regions, such as Germany and America, cider may be termed "apple wine"...
. Men used to work for some 8 days in this process and on the day, they gathered together in the village market square and celebrated with the tools employed in their work, playing the kirikoketa while singing the following tune along: "Kirikoketa, kirikoketa, kirikoketa, koketa, koketa, sagarra jo dela, sagarra jo dela, sagarra jo dela, jo dela, jo dela” (accompanying each syllable with a beat).
The inhabitants from the region of the river Bidasoa
Bidasoa
The Bidasoa is a river in the Basque Country of northern Spain and southern France that runs largely south to north. Named as such downstream of the small town of Oronoz-Mugairi in the province of Navarre, the river actually results from the merge of several streams near the village Erratzu, with...
and Baztan
Baztan
Baztan is a municipality located in the province and autonomous community of Navarre, northern Spain. It is located from Pamplona, the capital of Navarre. It is the largest municipality in Navarre, with some 376.8 km2 and just over 8,000 inhabitants....
(to the north of Navarre
Navarre
Navarre , officially the Chartered Community of Navarre is an autonomous community in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Country, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and Aquitaine in France...
) continued the custom for centuries until it almost died out in the 1920s. Yet thanks to the Basque culture revival and field research carried out by Basque scholars and culture activists, especially since the 1960s, it has enhanced its public profile out of the limbo during the last years, like the renaissance of the txalaparta
Txalaparta
The txalaparta is a specialized Basque music device of wood or stone, similar to Romanian toacă. In Basque, zalaparta means "racket", while in the nearby areas of Navarre "txalaparta" has been attested as meaning the trot of the horse, a sense closely related to the sound of the...
, though to a far lesser extent.
Operation
The cider-makers originally beat the strikers alternatingly on the cider press in order to crush apples, adopting a playful and rhythmRhythm
Rhythm may be generally defined as a "movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions." This general meaning of regular recurrence or pattern in time may be applied to a wide variety of cyclical natural phenomena having a periodicity or...
ic pattern as a means to enlivening the long process. The pattern remains similar: two or three people standing in front of the board beat it each with a striker, they may move along the board in search of different sounds and try faster/slower and harder/softer beats on it. When there are three people playing, the rhythm
Rhythm
Rhythm may be generally defined as a "movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions." This general meaning of regular recurrence or pattern in time may be applied to a wide variety of cyclical natural phenomena having a periodicity or...
ic pattern is a ternary one (3/8 time or simple triple). Optionally, a player may choose not to strike on the board on their turn (rest). Alongside the beating performance, the players may engage in singing.
Festivals and social events
Nowadays the festival Kirikoketa Besta is held in Arizkun (Baztan, NavarreNavarre
Navarre , officially the Chartered Community of Navarre is an autonomous community in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Country, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and Aquitaine in France...
) since approx. 2001 and is organized by the Society Jo Ala Jo Elkartea, aimed both at showcasing old cider practices by staging a re-enactment of the cider making process and encouraging the use of the kirikoketa as a musical instrument.