B
ASQUE ME IN THE PYRENEES
Idaho’s Basque Community Gains Direct Channel to Spain
BY MICAH DREW
Did you know that the largest concentration of Basque Americans lives in Boise? Approximately 16,000 people strong, this key subset of the city’s cultural diversity centers around the green, red, and white bedecked Basque Block, especially every five years, during the international Jaialdi festival. Like all large gatherings, Jaialdi was postponed for a second year due to COVID-19. But the city’s restrictions and the ongoing public health crisis took an extra toll on members of the Basque community, a typically vibrant and social diaspora that thrives on regularly coming together as a living tradition. “It was especially hard on the older generation,” says Annie Gavica, execu-
tive director of the Basque Museum and Cultural Center in Boise. “They’re used to having monthly dinners and near-weekly festivals celebrating their culture and heritage. They were essentially quarantined without being quarantined from the socialization part of it.” Soon, however, members of southern Idaho’s Basque community will be able to access another cultural resource that has a direct line to the Basque region in northern Spain. A new partnership between EVOCA, an over-the-air subscription cable TV company that broadcasts in Idaho and Arizona, and Euska Irrati Telebista (EiTB), the Basque country’s public broadcast service, is bringing a 24-hour Basque television channel to Boise.
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“We are pretty lucky to have a good relationship with the Basque country itself,” says Gavica. “Anything that enhances that is a welcome addition to the community, and I think having a Basque TV channel will make the experiences on the Basque block more authentic.” “We’re such a great community to try this out,” she continues, adding that EVOCA had reached out to Basque block establishments to offer their programming in those locations. “Everyone I’ve talked to is excited to just hear and practice the language.” Euskara, the Basque language, is considered the main identifying feature of the Basque culture. Euskara is a language isolate, meaning it is not related to any other existing language, and indeed the Basques refer to themselves as Euskaldunak–those who have the Basque
