5 minute read
Basque Me in the Pyrenees
from IdaHome--October
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, executive 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.
“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 language, says Boise State University professor John Bieter, who specializes in Basque-American history.
“Given this connection between the language and culture, any efforts to make it more accessible would be of great benefit to the community,” Bieter says.
EiTB offers several channels in the Basque country, including a sports channel and kids programming in Basque. The channel that will be available to EVOCA subscribers in southwest Idaho will offer these options and EiTB’s two general-interest channels.
The Basque children’s programming could be especially beneficial in Boise, where BSU professor Nere Lete helped create the Boise Basque preschool–Boise’ko Ikastola–the only one of its kind outside the Basque country. Incidentally, Lete was interviewed on EiTB just this summer.
“This addition can help those who are immigrants and those who want to stay connected,” Bieter says. “Communication is essential to staying connected and this could help strengthen that connection considerably.”
But there is more at stake than just cultural connections. Of the nearly 7,000 languages spoken on the planet, 50 percent are considered vulnerable to extinction within 70 years from now. Why does this matter? Much more is lost than community connection, especially when a language isolate, like Euskara, disappears as the diaspora focuses on life and languages of the 21st century. All languages maintain an invaluable source of human identity and history that enriches and promotes understanding of our global community.
EVOCA TV understood this value when it launched as a hybrid pay-TV service in Boise in late 2020. With more than 45 channels available, as CEO Todd Achilles says, EVOCA is committed to providing content to the traditionally underserved.
Bill Binford, who does content acquisition for EVOCA, says that the idea of bringing a Basque channel to Idaho came to him from working in densely diverse metropolitan areas on the East Coast.
“It was just instilled in me that if you have a significant language group in a region, and 15,000 out of the total Boise area is sizable, you should cater content to them,” Binford says. “That was just my macro-gravitation, so I started to reach out.”
His first call was to Vincent Chabrier, the North American Vice President for THEMA TV, a company that specializes in development and distribution of TV channels around the world.
“Bill reached out to me and said, ‘This might be crazy, but could you get the TV channel from the Basque area?’” Chabrier says. “I was very skeptical because it was a very niche, unique idea.”
Chabrier worked with EiTB on a novel distribution model for EVOCA.
“We’re not making a lot of money on it, but we like the idea and we’ve been able to pull it together,” Chabrier says. “I know the Basque community in Boise has strong cultural roots and it isn’t easy for them to access programming. I’m happy we’re able to provide that for them.”
Technically, the distribution model uses the various broadcast services of EiTB, which has Basque and Spanish language programming, as well as international programming, and condenses it into a single stream that will soon be available 24/7 on EVOCA.
“This was one of my favorite accomplishments,” says Chabrier. “We’re targeting a very small community, in a very specific part of the U.S., coming from a very specific part of Europe.”
Back in Boise, Professor Bieter sees this improved connection to the Basque country as another opportunity to expose the general public to the value of Basque culture. “Festivals, food, dancing, and singing draw many to Basque culture, but those who are truly drawn in end up being curious about the language,” Bieter says.
And as the late, great linguist Michael Krauss said, “When you lose a language and a language goes extinct, it’s like dropping a bomb on the Louvre.”
That means EVOCA TV’s Basque channel is more than a niche business idea. This is TV as a cultural champion.
