A quieter and more subdued city
Euskaraz irakurri: Donostia isil eta hitsagoa
A city without music and without works of art is, inevitably, a worse place. Despite firmly trying to tame nostalgia, we can affirm that much is lost when a city says goodbye to a refuge that has shown for four decades works by, among others, Eduardo Chillida, Esther Ferrer, Remigio Mendiburu, Rafael Ruiz Balerdi , Idoia Monton, Nestor Basterretxea, Jose Luis Zumeta, Juan Luis Goenaga and Jose Antonio Sistiaga, in addition to a room that has gladly welcomed local, Basque and international musicians.
Altxerri will close its doors at the end of 2023, this coming December 31, and the void will further expand for those who keep alive, despite everything, the cultural pulse in a city that in recent weeks has already received several setbacks: the closure of the Lagun bookstore or the indefinite halt in activity at the Doka room after detecting “serious damage” to the ceiling, for example.
Altxerri closes a 40-year cycle, “a way of understanding and being in art and live music,” according to those responsible. They have enjoyed “an emblematic and privileged location” on the Boulevard of San Sebastian and, once the journey of the project undertaken in 1983 by Artemio Zarco and Pepita Zozaya, Victor Suinaga and Piedi Iriondo and Ramón Iriondo and Raquel Martínez Ubago was completed, “we “it remains, without nostalgia, to thank above all the trust of the artists, that of all the clients and friends and that of the workers who have supported us in this unique journey.”
Bye
In the last week of the Altxerri there will be, of course, neither music nor the plastic arts. In the gallery, you can visit the exhibition “Continuo-Discontinuo” by Rakel Ubago, while Mikel Erentxun (December 26), Travellin’ Brothers (December 28), Giorgio Bassmatti (December 29) will pass through the stage of the concert hall. December) and the Gasteiztarra group Los Misterios (December 30).
Travellin’ Brothers, successful blues, soul and group from Mexico american About to turn 20 years into his career, he will perform at the Altxerri with the help of Club 44, an association of music lovers that has been left, precisely, orphaned with the farewell of the Altxerri; It is there where this group created by Juan Soroeta in 2013 programmed its concerts, more than a hundred to date.
This association, which schedules concerts funded through a monthly fee paid by its members, is now forced to leave “our house”, as Soroeta explained to EITB journalist Ainhoa Agirre, and is looking for a new future home. : “It won’t be easy, but I’m sure we will continue.”
First, however, Travellin’ Brothers will make a stop at the Altxerri, at the threshold of a year in which the group will celebrate its twentieth anniversary with the ambition that has accompanied it since its creation; They promise new music, luxury guests and a tour for 2024. Will be with them on stage, of course, Mikel Azpiroz, keyboardist and pianist from San Sebastian, member of the band and old friend of Altxerri.
“A very important loss”
“The closure of the Altxerri is a very important loss,” Azpiroz tells us: “I started dreaming and seeing concerts, in my adolescence, at the Altxerri, and then I spent many nights there, playing with different projects. It is terrible to lose a place beautiful and historic, the most important club in the city. I find it very sad.”
The group has not prepared anything specifically for Thursday’s concert. It will be a “very playful” concert, as those from Travellin’ usually are – Azpiroz tells us -, “with good vibes”, and “we will turn the room upside down, as on previous occasions.” It is the group’s fourth time at the Altxerri, managed in recent times by the Dabadaba team.
Travellin Brothers (Azpiroz, left), in Altxerri. Photo: Club 44
In any case, there is no doubt that it will be a special concert: “For me, for sure, because of the close relationship that unites me with Altxerri.”
“Donostia will be left an orphan”
And from January 1, what? “Donostia will be left an orphan,” explains Azpiroz. “The Etxekalte closed, Be Bop has been transformed, and nothing remains of what that circuit was. Before, we played in three venues in a single weekend, and now everything has disappeared.”
“It won’t be easy to find something similar. I don’t believe in today’s Donostia there is enough sensitivity, but let’s not lose hope,” he tells us.
They make it very difficult for us to believe in it, it’s true, but I hope we are, as Azpiroz and his group Travellin’ Brothers sing, on the path to a better day.
Source: Eitb
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
