In December 1995, Kepa Junkera released his sixth album, Lau eskutara (“four hands”), published by Elkar. For this project he joined Portuguese musician Júlio Pereira, an expert in cavaquinho, mandolin and braguesa guitar, as well as a composer and musicologist. Together they created thirteen pieces reflecting the close understanding between the two artists, while Jean Phocas once again handled recording duties at Elkar studios.

Kepa was already familiar with Pereira’s work, but they did not meet until 11 September 1994, during a jam session at the Getxo Folk Festival alongside The Chieftains and Carlos Núñez at the Fadura fronton. The following day they met again at Elkar studios to collaborate with the Irish band. Their relationship later deepened in Lisbon. Kepa recalls: “We decided to create the work in the studio, starting from a few initial ideas; we recorded for two weeks in July and in September Júlio returned to mix it.” The original idea included a trio with a percussionist, with names such as Nana Vasconcelos or Glen Vélez being considered, but the project ultimately remained strictly “four hands”. Pereira noted that both artists shared a similar outlook: “We do not come from schools or family traditions, we live in cities and our music comes from years of experience and knowledge. Although we use folk instruments, we seek to explore beyond tradition.”

The album combines ten structured songs with three more improvised pieces: “Después de la misa”, a fandango dedicated to engineer Jean Phocas; “Disfarces”, a blend of fado and biribilketa; and “Lau eskutara”, the closing track, which uses only hands to recreate the sound of the txalaparta. All compositions are original except for the opening “Madagaskar”, a favourite of Pereira already included on Kalejira Al-buk, and “Sodade”, the Cesária Évora classic performed by Minela, the second female voice to appear in Kepa’s discography, with an approach somewhere between folk and jazz.

Pereira highlighted the uniqueness of the diatonic accordion, found only in northern Portugal: “It is not widely played here, and although the piano accordion has spread across Europe, the diatonic accordion remains rare; to me, much more interesting.” Curiously, Lau eskutara reached number one for 19 weeks on the “Topera” chart of the Barkatu ama supplement in the Basque newspaper Egunkaria.

Record label: Elkar. Production: Kepa Junkera & Júlio Pereira.