International Basque Cultural Festival Jaialdi 2010 starts in Boise

Jaialdi, a Basque word meaning ''party time'', is the largest Basque cultural festival held outside the Basque Country. It celebrates Basque culture through dance, song, music, education and food, attracting attendees from all around the world.

According to expectations among organisers, combined attendance figures to the different events being held at this year''s Festival could reach as many as 50,000.

Jaialdi is held every five years and organizers try to be loyal to the essence of the festival while also giving each one a fresh touch.

"Every time, our goal is to do just the same but do it different," Jaialdi Director Dave Eiguren says.

There are many new features at this year''s event: For the first time ever a non-Basque group will perform at Jaialdi. Arrantza, by dance company The Trey McIntyre project, recently named Boise''s cultural ambassadors, will be premiered on July 30th as part of Festa''ra.

Arrantza, the Basque word for ''fishing'', ''ruminates over Basque culture from the outside in, by weaving poetic extensions of Basque folk influence through a dreamlike structure of story''.

Festa’ra will also include bertsolaris, two dance groups from the Basque Country, Boise’s Biotzetik Basque choir and the Oinkari Basque Dancers, currently celebrating their 50th anniversary.

Another new feature of this year’s Jaialdi will be the location of the Sports Night, taking place for the first time at the Qwest Arena, with a skating capacity of 5,000 people and just steps away from the Basque Block.

More famous sportsmen are also coming to town from the Basque Country. "In the past, we tried to get some popular names. This year we are getting the champions. We are now popular enough that we are getting the top," Dave Eiguren explains proudly.

Basque Studies of Boise State University will hold the7th international Seminar Euskal Herria Mugaz Gaindi during Jaialdi. The conference, which takes place every year in a different continent, draws researchers from a wide range of disciplines currently working on issues related to Basque Studies general and specific to the History and Strategies of Basque Migration abroad.

The main conference, which won''t take place on the BSU campus but in the Egyptian Theater in downtown Boise, is entitled "Euskal Etxea: In the name of the Basque" and will look into the stories behind the names of the Basques in Boise, where they come from and what their surname says about them.

And this is not all: the NABO tournament in the Fronton Anduiza, Amuma Says No at Boise’s summer concert series Alive after Five, the traditional San Inazio mass with the Oñati Dancers performing a sacrad dance on the altar, and the festival at the Expo Idaho fairgrounds, where more than 36 dance groups from six Western

States will perform on two indoor stages.

The festival, although in some ways a reflection of old Basque traditions, is no stranger to 21st century innovation and has a presence among social networks. It is on Twitter and also has a very active group on Facebook.

It is time for Jaialdi. Time for fun.