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Joseba Tapia
Québec, hamalau kantu independentziarako (Hotsak, Spain)

Under the title, Québec, hamalau kantu independentziarako (Québec, 14 Songs of Independence), Tapia transports us to a little singing club, all with arrangements for live playing with violin, bass, guitar and Basque (diatonic) accordion. Joseba Tapia’s voice reflects the concerns of a people, their joys and their anguishes. The CD, the insert and of course, the music, come out in a very state-of-the-art and elegant presentation.

These 14 political and poetic songs by six great Quebec chansonniers, Felix Leclerc, Gilles Vigneault, Robert Charlebois, Claude Leveillee, Raymond Levesque and Paul Piché are given new life in Euskera by trikitixa player and vocalist Tapia. This rates as one of Tapia's more adventurous efforts. The sentiments of Quebec's Quiet Revolution (especially Levesque's "Bozo les Culottes," and Leclerc's "L'Alouette en Colere") mirror the struggles of the Basques for their own homeland. Gaigne, Miner and Salaberria join Tapia and contribute a light jazzy feel to these standards of La Belle Province. - David Cox

Musicians:
Joseba Tapia: diatonic accordion and voice.
Arkaitz Miner: violin.
Ritxi Salaberria: double bass.
Pascal Gaigné: acoustic guitar and arrangements.

Tapia visited Quebec a number of times with Leturia in order to play in folk festivals, but this time his aim was to select six of the best Quebecois singer-songwriters known for their compositions, playing skills and lyrics. The irony of the ballads sung by Leclerc and Lévesque, the lyricism of Vigneault, the harmony of Léveillée, the social criticism of Charlebois ' rock music, Piché’s merging of tradition and modernity and the voice of Joseba Tapia are all combined in the wonderfully simple project which gave rise to this highly acoustic album.

About the artist:
Joseba Tapia is one of the best diatonic accordion players and composers of recent years. Self-taught, for many years he formed one half of the Basque accordion and tambourine duo known as Tapia ta Leturia, which focused mainly on folk, dance and popular procession music and created a new school with an endless list of followers.

After experimenting with a number of other fields such as rock and tex-mex, for example, in 1998 he joined forces with the writer Koldo Izagirre and released an album entitled Apoaren edertasuna (The beauty of the toad), in which the artist merged literary texts with original compositions. This project marked the start of his solo career, which continued the following year with Québec: 14 kantu independentziarako (Quebec: 14 songs for independence), an album featuring a number of singer-songwriters from Quebec itself (Félix Leclerc, Raymond Lévesque, Gilles Vidneault, Claude Léveillée, Robert Charlebois and Paul Piché), accompanied by the accordion, guitar, violin and double bass with vocals by Tapia himself.

At the end of 2001 he brought out his latest album, Agur Intxorta maite , which features a number of unpublished and unknown songs from the War of 36. This highly acoustic work is made up of 20 songs sung in an austere, direct style with different types of accordions and voices. Tapia composed a number of melodies for the occasion which he intersperses with the styles typical of the era: tango, paso doble, passacaglia, anthems, ballads and the typical Basque dance music known as arin-arin.