TOSTA
Sophie Stephenson was selected as the Gaelic artist in residence in the Basque Country for the TOSTA projected supported by Sabhal Mòr Ostaig and Euskaltzaleen Topagunea as part of Donostia / San Sebastián European Capital of Culture 2016.
The TOSTA initiative brought together seven minority language communities of Europe’s Atlantic coast (Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Cornwall, Friesland, Galicia and the Basque Country for the celebration of linguistic and cultural diversity and the promotion of artistic creation. As part of the project one visual artist from each community was hosted by one of the other communities where they undertook a residency in order to create a piece of work which would be exhibited at festivals in each of the places. There was also a Tosta band featuring members of the Basque Band Orek TX along with musicians and singers from the different countries. Sophie was involved in the project both as a visual artist and also as a dancer with the Tosta band.
The TOSTA initiative brought together seven minority language communities of Europe’s Atlantic coast (Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Cornwall, Friesland, Galicia and the Basque Country for the celebration of linguistic and cultural diversity and the promotion of artistic creation. As part of the project one visual artist from each community was hosted by one of the other communities where they undertook a residency in order to create a piece of work which would be exhibited at festivals in each of the places. There was also a Tosta band featuring members of the Basque Band Orek TX along with musicians and singers from the different countries. Sophie was involved in the project both as a visual artist and also as a dancer with the Tosta band.
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"The residency brought me so many great experiences - knowledge of a new language, a new culture, a new place - the opportunity to live and work in a different country and become integrated into that community for a brief while was quite a unique and special experience. It also brought me a new sense of pride in my own language and culture and made me appreciate how crucial it is to use minority languages like Basque and Gaelic because they are so important to our individual identities. Sometimes we have to step outside of our communities to acknowledge the cultural which boundaries define those communities. From an international perspective I was able to realise that Gaelic is both precious but also in a precarious state and we must never take it for granted. If we don’t continue to make them part of our everyday life then these languages will be lost. Above all it brought me new friendships and connections which have opened the doors for international collaboration in future. I hope I will be involved in more projects in the future with musicians and dancers from the Basque Country and indeed from the other communities (Cornwall, Wales, Ireland, Galicia and Friesland).
As a result of the residency I made a short film ‘Txalaparta Dantza’. The txalaparta is a percussive instrument which resembles a large xylophone made of wooden planks. The instrument has a distinctive sound which has become synonymous with a particular idea of Basque musical identity over recent decades. I first heard the txalaparta played live by the Basque band Orek TX at the beginning of my residency and knew that I wanted somehow to incorporate this percussive sound into the audio for my film project. As the idea developed I actually ended up dancing on the txalaparta and using this as the basis for the soundtrack for my film. The main concept behind my project was to create a rhythmical structure using my steps (on the txalaparta) and then layer a Gaelic song and a Basque song on top of this. The idea was to have two different languages and different cultures held together rhythmically. I worked with the wonderful sound artist Xabier Erkizia who encouraged me push the boundaries of both traditions and add a certain amount of “strangeness” and “incoherence” into the project by fragmenting the structure of my dance. In the end this allowed me to portray the story of both isolation and integration of a woman “finding her feet” in a foreign place. The film brings together not only different languages, Gaelic and Basque, but also mixes the old with the new and the rural with the urban. The Gaelic vocals for the track are sung by Màiri Britton and Eilidh Munro from Scotland who are also in my band Huradal (www.huradal.com). I also got permission from The School of Scottish Studies to use a recording from their archive made of Gaelic singer Kate MacDonald by folklorist Calum MacLean in the 1950s. The archive has played a hugely significant role in retaining our rich oral tradition and it’s wonderful to be able to acknowledge the tradition bearers and collectors and their contribution to our musical heritage. In the Basque Country I worked with Euskal Bertsolari Odei Barroso who raps in Basque over the Gaelic song." |
