OSPA

OSPA
Center Presents
The Center Theater Lobby
January 15 | 6:00 PM

OSPA is a Basque American band devoted to the presentation of traditional and contemporary Basque music including the jauzi dances (leap or jump), fandangos, and arins of Iparralde (the Northern Basque Country) the jotas,and porruas of Hegoalde (the Southern Basque Country), and the mixed musical heritage of the Basque diaspora especially in the Intermountain West of the United States. Additionally, we perform music of the nineteenth century Basque troubadour Joxe Mari Iparragirre, the composer of The Tree of Gernika. Our name comes from the Basque verb ospatu”to celebrate”which is also used to mean go away. It’s what Basque parents said to their kids when they were fed up”ospa! Scram!

The band features trikitixa style button accordion, alboka”a double reed instrument that is played using circular breathing to produce continuous sound, and pandero, a single headed tambourine with jingles. We also use piano and fiddle and sing many songs. The fiddle played a major role in Basque music until the end of the nineteenth century when it was driven out by the noisy accordion, introduced to the Basque Country by Italian railroad workers. We love the sound of fiddle and accordion together and so are bringing the fiddle back into the music. The piano we’ve added purely as part of our North American heritage and for the love of what it brings to our music.

Ospa was founded by David Romtvedt who has served for many years as the musical accompanist to the Zaharrer Segi Basque Dance Troupe of Buffalo, Wyoming. The band’s core members are Caitlin Belem, vocals, violin, and alto sax; Margo Brown, percussion and vocals; Kevin Carr, violin, viola, alboka, and pandero, David Romtvedt, vocals, flugelhorn, trikitixa, and three row diatonic accordion; and Daniel Steinberg, piano.

We have performed at the Smithsonian National Folklife Festival, the Western Folklife Center’s National Cowboy Poetry Gathering, the Salt Lake City Basque Club’s annual Tripota celebration, The International Bertso-eskolak Conference at the University of Nevada Center for Basque Studies, the North American Basque Organization’s National Festival, The Getxo (Bizkaia, Basque Country) International Music Festival, and throughout Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, and Colorado under the auspices of the Wyoming Cultural Trust and Boise State University.

In addition to our performance background, we have broad experience as teachers at summer music camps including The Festival of American Fiddle Tunes, the Port Townsend Blues Festival, Sierra Swing, Puget Sound Guitar Workshop, California Coast Music Camp, Big Sur Fiddle Camp, and Pinewoods Family Camp. Kevin Carr performs with several other bands including La Tête du violon and the Irish Grateful Dead homage ensemble Wake the Dead. Daniel Steinberg directs world music choirs in addition to his work with Ospa. Caitlin Belem performs Brazilian and Latin American music with Maracuja and is currently a PhD candidate in ethnomusicology at the University of California at Berkeley. David Romtvedt is an emeritus professor at the University of Wyoming where he taught a diverse group of courses in creative writing, world music, American folk music, and Basque music and language.

For further information on Ospa, please contact: David Romtvedt by telephone at 307-217-2812 or by email at [email protected]

Ospa is supported by: