Basques in Boise

When Katie D''Angelo did a cover version of the Mikel Laboa song ''Txoria Txori'' and uploaded it onto youtube, she never imagined her video would have such an impact. However, someone working for the Basque Country''s public media group eitb saw it and decided it was worth including on that night''s TV news program, on both the Spanish - ETB-2 - and the Basque channels - ETB-1.

Katie, a cello and violin teacher based in New York, recorded the song when her boyfriend, a US photographer of Basque heritage and member of the Basque club in New York, asked her to.

She had already heard the song for the first time during one of the New York Basque club''s celebrations. Apart from Mikel Laboa, Katie also knew of Ken Zazpi and a number of Basque folk songs.

Katie does not record songs for a living but she likes to do it. "I have actually been writing songs since I was sixteen. I am a music teacher and in my spare time I write songs and compose, it is something that I have always done," she says in an exclusive interview for eitb.com.

Her influences and favorite music include Bob Dylan, Nick Drake, and American singer-songwriter Johnny Holland. In Basque, one of her favorites one is Ilargia by the Gernika band Ken Zazpi.

She used to play live gigs in bars and pubs in New York but now teaches late into the evenings and has not played recently. However, she continues to write songs such as ''Bizirik'', with the help of a Basque friend called Ixone Villafruela to translate the lyrics into Basque.

Basque strength

Katie and her boyfriend were recently in the Basque Country. They went to San Sebastian and Bilbao but her favorite place was Hondarribia. "I loved Hondarribia. San Sebastian is beautiful too but really crowded. I liked everywhere but Hondarribia was my all-time favorite", she says.

"The Basque culture is very interesting. I stayed in the country in a casa rural so I got more of a feeling of the farm land, and seeing Basque farmers was a daily experience. We also visited the Saturday morning market in Tolosa, and spoke with many people selling their cheese, meets, and vegetables. It was great! I also got to see Basque rural sports, which was so fun. The stone lifting and wood chopping were amazing. I felt the strength of the Basque people, and also how much they are connected to each other as a big family. I felt the pride that people feel for being Basque, and how proud they were of their culture. It was great to see," adds Katie.