Imanol Erkizia’s San Fermin ritual consists of playing music in the morning. Some days the txistu together with a group of pipers. Others, the euphonium with the fanfare by Muthiko Alaiak. Nor does he miss the appointment on July 8 as director of the choir of the rock that sings the jota ‘Ofrenda a San Fermín’ in the Parish of San Lorenzo. Between commitment and commitment, when Erkizia needs a few hours of disconnection, he escapes to San Sebastián to recharge his batteries. And it is that music feeds the party with joy, but it also demands dedication, and with crowds or heat, a degree of effort.
Erkizia spends most of the San Fermin afternoons at her house in Pamplona, after a vermouth that sometimes takes a long time, and now she only reserves one night to go out on the town. Gone are the most intense Sanfermines, like when one year he played every afternoon in the bullring. “It was hard for me, I don’t like that very much, it’s incredibly hot, and I didn’t see much point in often playing all of them at the same time in a hodgepodge”.
Many San Fermin mornings, Erkizia gathers strength at lunches with friends and other musicians, to immediately play in the streets. When he wears the txistu, he connects with the deepest roots of the festival, and he likes that, as a participant and heir to a tradition. “Now we are used to brass bands, but in the past with one two txistularis they would have a party, or accompany the gangs.”
This member of Muthiko Alaiak acknowledges having more affective bonding with his rock, of which he has been a member since the late 1990s, than with the parties themselves. Born in Donosti on January 1, 1973, New Year’s Day, the month of Tamborrada, his life seemed predestined to intersect with music and festivity, even more so when his sister had been born a year earlier, on January 2, 1972. The Erkizia brothers thus charged their mother for two consecutive New Year’s Eve.
Imanol, Navarro by adoption, has been living in Pamplona for 37 years. In Muthiko he began as a txistulari of the dance group, and later he became a member and got involved in the fanfarre. Although they try to renew the repertoire, the classic songs, like ‘Lesakako inauteriak’, do not fail and are a guarantee of animation. In his opinion, now “the night is less attractive than many years ago, when it seemed that Pamplona was just coming to a party”. He believes that “people are valuing the atmosphere of the morning and afternoon party more”, although he humorously acknowledges that he still perceives it that way because at 50 he does not feel like going out after certain hours and suffering “a madness of noise and jostling”. “Even if I were 20 years old, I would see it differently,” he laughs.
reunions
Erkizia is a calm man, with a leisurely pace and restrained expression, who instantly transmits his kindness. Playing in the street during the festivities, walking around cheering up the show, is an excellent opportunity for meetings and reunions with old friends and acquaintances. During the year he goes to the club to rehearse on weekdays, and he does not coincide with the members who go to Muthiko on Saturdays for dinner. These days he has the opportunity to get even, and greet many people of very different ages. In this club, located on Estafeta street, says Erkizia, the oldest member, Paco Zamora, is 96 years old.
Asked about the music that plays in Muthiko, Erkizia says that “he puts on everything”, including regaetton. He would select the styles a little more, although he assumes that he is liked by many people who pass through a street hallmark of the party.
An annual appointment… Without leaving music the rest of the year
Born in San Sebastian, this musician has also played many times in the Tamborrada. “If you’re not involved with your drum, your suit, and your sticks, it’s very difficult to understand that party,” she says. By contrast, she highlights the freedom that the Sanfermines print. Regarding the quasi-collective metamorphosis that Iruña experiences in this kind of annual catharsis, Erkizia compares it to a sudden “explosion”, although she believes that lately between the Juevintxo and the evenings, during the rest of the year there is a bit more atmosphere compared to the nineties. In any case, music accompanies him during the 12 months, as he directs, among others, the Muthiko choir, the ‘Salus Abeslariak, of the Hospital de Navarra, and the Gizonok choir. As if that were not enough, he is a txistu teacher in the peña, so in the afternoons musical activity accumulates, that passion that captivated him from a very young age and that is renewed every July.
2023-07-07 17:36:23
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