Errobi - Ametsaren Bidea Mp3

It's interesting to find prog rock originating in obscure areas of the world, sung in a language that few know about, and linguists seem to have trouble tracing its origins, in this case Basque. The Basque prog rock scene tended to be more folk-based, so you won't find too many Yes/Genesis type of symphonic prog type of bands. Errobi is often thought of as Spanish, because they recorded their albums in Bilbao, in the Basque region of Spain. In reality they're French, as Errobi is the Basque name for the Nive River, which runs through the French side of the Basque region, and I guess the band hails near Errobi (or Nive). One member is Jean Paul Gilles, undeniably French name.

It's hard to imagine a group recording since 1975 recording their most progressive album in 1979, but that's what Errobi does here! It's sorta like Gryphon's Red Queen to Gryphon Three or Harmonium's L'Heptade (not that Errobi sounds like either of them), in that those two groups started off as rather modest folk groups on their debut albums, but quickly went a more progressive route afterwards, and Red Queen to Gryphon Three and L'Heptade were the culminations for both. Same goes for Ametsaren Bidea. Here the band includes several traditional Basque folk instruments like the Alboka and combine them with conventional rock gear. The opening cut features the Alboka, naturally entitled "Alboka". It has a rather festive vibe, using the double-conical double reed instrument of that name. It's a bit like the Welsh pibgorn, except the pibgorn is single-conical. The title track is much more epic in fashion, starting off mellow, but picking up as it goes on, including a few atmospheric passages, and one passage using a txirula (xirula) which ends up sounding much like an Irish tin whistle. "Andere" is a rather intense piece with a bit of a medieval feel, particularly in the vocal harmonies, probably the absolute highlight of the album! Then there's the closing "Oraino" which is rather mellow and appropriate way of closing the album.

I have to say I have little idea what these guys are on about, given Basque is a language that appear to be of complete unknown origin and having completely nothing in common with the Romance languages of the region (French, Spanish) or any other Indo-European language. Luckily the original LP came with an insert that included Spanish and French translations of the lyrics, if you're familiar with either language. This is truly great stuff, and I highly recommend this to those looking for something off-the-beaten track!