External homologation in bertsolarism: Txirrita-Basarri rupture

Abstract

The main goal of this article is to analyze a phenomenon that happened in bertsolarism during the 20th century: the attempt to standardize the disciplinen with external criteria. Basque nationalism resorted to cultural expressions to awaken national consciousness, just as it happened in many national minorities in Europe during Romanticism. The Basque national project, led by Aitzol, realized that poetry was insufficient to achieve it´s goals, and it found in bertsolarism the appropriate way to spread it´s values and beliefs. So they promoted a type of bertsolarism that tended towards correction and flattery, far from the provocative style of Txirrita. They had a suitable bertsolari to lead this transformation: Basarri.