Willie-o I'm so glad you asked...

A txalaparta (cha-la-PAR-ta)is a wonderful Basque percussion instrument made of two upturned apple baskets, a pile of flax, and several planks of wood which are hit with 2' long strikers. Originally it was played only at night, after the planks had been used all day as a platform for crushing apples into cider.

This great primative instrument was nearly lost, but in the past generation there has been a resurgence in interest among the young folks in Northern Spain. Sawhorses have replace the apple baskets, and sheepskin has taken the place of the flax, but the sound of tuned wooden planks being struck by two players in counter-rhythm has just gotten better and better.

It's been elevated to a high art form by great percussionists such as Ugarte Aniak and Oreka TX, two great groups from the Basque Country.   I was commissioned to research, build and play the txalaparta for a show I'm doing next month about music in Northern Spain during the late 1600's. Turns out as far as anybody can tell there is exactly ONE txalaparta in all of North America, at the Basque cultural center in Reno, NV. It's 8 feet long, contains 13 planks of wood, stone and iron, and weighs over 300 pounds. Why couldn't I have taken up the pennywhistle?

Long story short (too late now, I guess) with the help of Igor Otxoa (one of the members of Oreka TX) and some wonderful folks at the local Basque cultural center in South San Francisco, I have spent the last few months building and learning to play this beast. Now there are two txalapartas in North America, and one of them is in my livingroom. My partner Shira holds down the basic rhythm on one board and I do the ornaments and counter-rhythms on the other planks.

We're just babies starting out with this complex and wonderful thing, but having a great time. One txalaparta piece is on our new CD, and we are working on others for upcoming shows.

Here are some links to txalaparta information
and the wonderful guys at Oreka TX. You can also hear the instrument on The Cheiftains album "Santiago" and Alasdair Frasier's "Skyedance Live in Spain".

Hey, are there any Mudcatters in Euskadi(Basque Spain)? Any Mudcatters out there secretly harboring the third North American txalaparta?

xoxo
pj