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Looking forward to next month's Global Roots fest, Wednesday night's show promises to be an experience for the ears that will not only show off our sound system, but allow our hall to function in its best "listening room" capacity. All of which sounds really good this morning.
I can only hope the crowd for the Oreka Tx/ Portico Quartet show will be ready for the "listening room" scene and respectful of the quiet space such music deserves. I am also very much looking forward to the images from central Asia, Indian, Saami-land and Morocco in the Oreka Tx film, Nomadak Tx. At this point I don't have much to add to our regular website description of this show and the groovy weird instruments it features, but I can tell you this: the "x" in "Tx" is pronounced "ch" in Euskara.
The Basques are a unique group of people whose origins are somewhat surrounded in mystery. They are believed to be prehistoric inhabitants of Europe and possibly the direct descendants of Cro-Magnon man; their language is entirely different from any other European language and it is apparently the only Western European language that does not belong to the Indo-European family.
But they have another unique thing … the TXALAPARTA.
This percussion instrument consists of some wood planks placed on two stands covered with an insulating material. Wood freely vibrates when two people (txalpartaris) vertically hit them, each one with two wooden sticks.
The origin of the Txalaparta is surrounded by myths. Some people place it in the prehistoric cavern , imitating their galloping sound. Or used as a way of communication among Basque tribes.
08/24/10
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