Interview to Iñaki Tolaretxipi on 'Kantuz'.

"We celebrate our tenth anniversary
on a very good way"

-Ainhoa Larrea Unzain-

For this young director from Renteria it has been a high bet to walk up on the stage of Tolosa with a young choir full of illusion and desirous, but they wanted to celebrate on a very good way the tenth anniversary of the choir and they bet hard. The choir came out strengthened from this experience, and now they are planning their choral future, selecting between the invitations they are receiving, but Tolaretxipi says that “they can forget they are a simple choir from a village”

Kantuz.- Congratulations for your performance of Tolosa.

Iñaki Tolaretxipi.- Thank you, we are really satisfied with this experience.

K.- ¿How started the idea of going to Tolosa?

I.T.- Four years ago the CIT invited us to go to Tolosa, but at that moment we thought we were not prepared. However, step by step we have been thinking about the idea, and cosidering that this year we celebrate the tenth anniversary of the choir, we decided togo.

K.- ¿Were you afraid of the stage of Tolosa?

I.T.- We were quite afraid and specially about the pressure it supposes: media comunications, other directors, the public, other choirs. The moment before going onto the stage was a moment of a lot of nervous. Add to this the stage is quite bad for singing, and it requires a lot of technique work.

K.- ¿And what about the critics from the local people? Because sometimes we can become a bit bad with ‘our’ people.

I.T.-Yes, but when you know about the competition and when you take the decission to take part in it, you already know what is waiting for you. It is not an unknown thing.

K.- ¿What were the objectives the choir had marked in its performance at Tolosa?

I.T.-Mainly to live a new experience. To participate at Tolosa it is not opened to a lot of choirs and when this oportunity appears we do not want to lose it. With this new experience we have achieved an important musical grow.

K.- ¿Have you reached those objectives?

I.T.- (Laughing) Yes, more than we expected.

K.- ¿How did the choir live this experience? ¿Which have the positive and negatives points been?

I.T.- There were not negative points, except the pressure and the stress the days before. Fisically it has been an important effort for all of the singers. And there has been a lot of positive points: the union of the group to get the same objective it has been spectacular, and the level the choir has reached it has been remarkable.

K.- ¿How did you work on the preparation of the Competition?

I.T.- We begin to prepare the Competition on january of this year and we perform a lot of concerts, this helps to be secure and gives work to the choir. The programme was very hard and we could not prepare it completely untill july. We have perform eight concerts before the Competition.

K.- ¿How did you prepare the programme?

I.T.- We have prepared in two parts: the first one between january and june, doing a very relaxed work, taking the point with a lot of calm and without performing any concert. Before the holiday we perform four concerts, and on august we have been on holiday. At the second part since september untill the Competition it has been much more intense, with three rehearsal on a week and eigth concerts.

K.- ¿How did you observe the choir at Tolosa?

I.T.- Much more relaxed than I expected and with very normal.

K.- ¿ Have the diferences with other choirs been important, those you expected, ...?

I.T.- I see the other choirs have much more musical preparation and mainly much more technique than we have, more experience and prizes on Competitions. But I think we have other advantages too: Landarbaso was the unique choir that sang without song papers, there was not another choir that had been working for ten months to prepare the performance at Tolosa, all the illusion we carried, … I think the advantages and disadvantages between all the choirs were ballanced.

K.- ¿What do you think about the obligatory songs?

I.T.- The two songs were very difficult.

K.- Tell us about the program that carried Landarbaso choir to the Competition.

I.T.- There are songs that I personally choose, but for others I have the help of Javier Busto and Enrique Azurza. I think the program is quite difficult, but secure. At polyphonic music I want to remark ‘I love alas’, a quite unknown song; ‘O Salutaris Hostia’, a song of Eslava for doble choir; and the ‘Gloria’ of Miskinis that was a personal bet, a song of enormous difficulty because it is near to six minutes of music. At Folk music we performed songs of medium and high level without soloists, because we do not want to put any singer on that commitment. We sing ‘Lili eder bat’ composed specially for us by Javier Busto, ‘Aldapeko’ a song of very nice development and very few times sung. I would like more choirs will sing this one.

K.- ¿What programme of other choirs would you remark?

I.T.- Yes. I would remark the programme of the choir from Yugoslavia, because the simplicity, out of the actuallity; on the other hand the programmes carried by the choirs from Letonia and World Voices choir, songs that only a few choirs can sing because of its difficulty.

K.- ¿Would you remark any of other choirs?

I.T.- I would remark the choir from Letonia without any doubt, because of the sound and the perfection they had. I have not seen nothing similar, ¡great!.

K.- ¿What are the characteristics of Landarbaso choir?

I.T.- It is a young choir with singers between 17 and 29 years old and most of them come from child choirs, with good musical knowledge. They do not have experience on international competitions, but they do have on national competitions. And I think that maintainnig this group, we could progress a lot the next years.

K.- ¿What are the future objectives for the choir?

I.T.- The next year we are not going to take part on any other competition, and we are going to work mainly the vowel technique, because I consider our level is quite low in front of other choirs. May be we would take part on an international competition in two years.

K.- Let’s talk about the choral situation at the Basque Country. ¿What do you think about it? ¿What is your opinion of the choirs at the Basque Country?

I.T.- Actaully I think we are on a moment of medium level, but I am really worried about the child choirs. Landarbaso is composed of singers that came from Landarbaso Txiki and Txinparta (child choirs), and I wonder where would come from the future singers, because there are only a few child choirs working nowadays. But I think that we must maintain hopeful and look for new ways to impulse the child choirs movement all together.

K.- ¿What could the solution be?

I.T.- I think the solution must be found in the directors. We must found new directors and recover people that have made an exceptional work and that actually are completely out of the direction of choirs. Personally I am desirous to find a director to work with children and to begin again with Landarbaso Txiki, because the fututre is on the child choirs.