Oreka TX The core sound of this Spanish Basque group comes from an unwieldy traditional percussion instrument called the txalaparta. Built from planks of wood laid across trestles and struck end-on with stout wooden rods, it has a sound a bit sharper and drier than a marimba's and often idiosyncratic tuning similar to that of a balafon; it's customarily played by two people, who between them can produce quite a galloping stampede of notes. As a Basque instrument, the txalaparta faced extinction when Franco's nationalist regime suppressed ethnic identity in Spain, but in the decades since it's been revived by folklorists. Harkaitz Martinez and Igor Otxoa began playing the instrument together in 1997, and the important Basque musician Kepa Junkera brought them into his band the same year; they released their first record as Oreka TX in 2001. For the group's latest album, 2008's Nömadak TX (World Village), they traveled the world (a trip that also produced a documentary film of the same name) to play with a wide range of collaborators—including Norwegian Sami musicians, Mongolian throat singers, Indian folk musicians, a Berber drumming group, and ice artist and percussionist Terje Isungset, who helped them build a txalaparta from blocks of ice. The band's namesake instrument remains at center stage throughout, but the music's character is unfortunately diluted by wishy-washy one-worldism. With any luck the touring lineup will have a stylistic focus narrow enough to frame the txalaparta properly.