Herria represents the culmination of Kepa Junkera’s trilogy dedicated to the traditional Basque songbook. This double CD gathers twenty-four songs recorded in studios around the world: the United States (New York, Oakland, Boise, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Hawai‘i and San Antonio), Paris, Casablanca, Istanbul, Athens and Bilbao. The large scale of the project is reflected in the participation of more than 280 musicians, singers, technicians and producers.

Although it never achieved the same mainstream recognition as Etxea or Kalea, Herria includes artists of remarkable interest and international trajectory: Jean Marie Ecay (guitarist from Saint-Jean-de-Luz and former member of Itoiz), Greek singers Eleftheria Arvanitaki and Giannis Kotsiras, American musician Curtis Stigers, percussionist Glen Vélez, pianist Paul Tillotson, valiha player Justin Vali, oud master Ara Dinkjian, Max Baca on bajo sexto, Turkish singer Dilek Türkan and Korean jazz vocalist Sunny Kim, among others.

During the recording process, Kepa lived with his family in San Francisco and travelled throughout California, Texas and Idaho —particularly Boise, considered the epicentre of the Basque diaspora— before continuing to New York and Maui. In these American locations, pieces such as “Boga boga”, “Hator hator”, “Begiak barrez barrez”, “Egun da Santi Mamiña” (in two versions with the native group All Nations Singers), “Axuri beltxa”, “Ene izar maitea”, “Eperrak” and “Amerikara noa” were recorded. The result combines influences from the diversity of American music: from Native chants to gospel, from tex-mex to jazz, also incorporating exotic sounds brought by musicians living in those cities. Kepa acknowledges that these are “slightly stranger instruments and sounds”, leaving only minimal traces of the Latin American influence that had been more present in Kalea.

In Europe, the recording sessions produced pieces such as “Orioko baleari”, “Itsasoan laino dago”, “Solferinoko itsua” and “Pello Joxepe”, incorporating unusual instruments including the Malagasy valiha, Greek lyre, oud, bouzouki, ney, cümbüs and bendir. Basque participation centred around Borja Barrueta on drums, Polo Ortí on piano and a female choir created specifically for the project under the direction of Basilio Astulez. The album’s only txalaparta was performed by Camilo Landau, a multi-instrumentalist from Oakland and nephew of a renowned Latin music producer, while the trio Noka, formed by three women from Boise of Basque descent, performs an entire repertoire in Euskera.

Kepa emphasises that throughout the trilogy the musicians and singers were given freedom to make the traditional Basque songs theirs, always respecting the guiding thread: the strength of Basque songs and of the Euskera language itself, which remains the central axis of the trilogy.

Record label: Hiri Records & Warner. Production: Kepa Junkera.