Amuma Says No's Dan Ansotegui: "Culture lives with change"

Boise-based Basque folk/rock band, Amuma Says No, has been playing for a little over a year now.  It is made up of six musicians,  left to right in photo:  Dan Ansotegui, triki, Jill Aldape, vocals, Dave Manion, electric guitar, Erik Snodgrass, electric bass,  Spencer Basterrechea Martin, drums and Sean Aucutt, tamborine.  Each have a love for life and challenging people to stay abreast with Basque music and their personal touch in the 21st century.   In the first of a series of stories wtih Amuma Says No, EuskoSare interviews with co-founding member, Dan Ansotegui.  He shares with us insight on how the band started, its musical influences, his beliefs on how cultures must change in order to stay alive and much more. 

 Interview with Dan Ansotegui, co-founder and trikiixa player for Amuma Says No.

1.    How did the group members get to know each and how did you come together as a band?  Why did you decide to form this band?  It appears that you are able to leverage each others strengths…
Sean Aucutt and I both played in Gaupasa and wanted to do something with more energy.  Gaupasa was started as a folk band.  When we began we were not planning on playing for dances since Jimmy and Ordago were doing that.  We just wanted to play Basque music, and thought that maybe the monthly dinners at the Basque Center or venues like that would be where we played.  Just after we started playing Ordago broke up, and so we started playing the dances along with Jimmy's band just to fill the void.  Before long, the dances our main gigs.  Sean and I spoke a lot about wanting to put together something with electric guitar, drums and bass where those three elements were great players playing Basque music with more of a jazz rock feel.  Not necessarily the traditional Basque sound, but with a rhythm that Basques could still dance to.  We knew we needed a front person who would do most of the singing and have the energy needed to be up front.  I knew I was not that person.  That's where Jill Aldape came in, and she has been a God send!  Even though she has never sang on a microphone before or been in a band, she has everything it takes to be a great front person.  She's as good as anyone in town, and most of them have been doing that for many years.  I can't wait to see how she is in another year or two.  After this three we started talking about who the rhythm section would be.  We all knew players around town, but then I got a call from Spencer Martin Basterrechea out of the blue.  He was new to town, his grandmother was Basque, and he played drums.  He wanted to get into the Basque music scene and a Basque guy that he worked with, Jack Areitio, told him to give me a call.  It was perfect timing.  The first time the three of us met with him, he just brought his sticks.  We sat on the stage at the Basque Center and would play some of the tunes we had in mind.  He would play whatever rhythm he felt would fit, and it was obvious by him playing the sticks on the stage floor that he was an amazing drummer with an ear that would bring a fresh sound to traditional dances like jotas and porrusaldas.  He had played with Jason Flores, who became our first bass player, and I knew Jonah Shue, who became our first guitar player.  After three rehearsals we played at the Boise Sheepherders' Ball a year and a half ago.

2.    What musical instruments are played in your band?  Which ones do you play? Which instruments would you like to bring into your band’s ensemble?
We have the Basque button accordion, or trikitixa, which I play, the tambourine (Sean), drums (Spencer), electric bass (Erik Snodgrass), and electric guitar (Dave Manion).  We are talking about trying to incorporate the txalaparta in some way.  Spencer has directed two university marching band drum corps, and said it is a lot like the line bass drums marching bands are using today.  He has been teaching in Txantxan Gorriak to young people wanting to learn to play the txalaparta.  We would like to use fiddle on our upcoming recording if possible.

3.    Last year at Boiseko Saninazio jaiak while I was visiting with friends in the Grove, I was standing in a place where I couldn’t see who the band was and I thought to myself I wonder who this band is from Euskadi?  You have an Euskadi-band sound, maybe it was the rock sound, is this something that just happened?  What spirit and mood would you like your audience to get from your music?  How does an US audience react to your music when playing in a non-Basque venue like the Grove?
So far, all of our music has come from the Basque country.  We listen to a cd, chart it out, and then try to change it some and make it our own.  It's definitely a compliment when someone says we sound like the bands from over there, but it's not our goal.  We're trying to find our sound which I think is going to be a fusion in some way of the Basque rock sound, and hopefully some ideas that our members have.  When we first hear a song, we don't listen too many times to the recording.  We don't want to copy the sound so that each song sounds like Joseba Tapia, or Itoitz or whomever.  We want it to sound like us doing their song.

The local musicians that have heard us seem to appreciate the music and our musicianship.  Basque music has some weird changes.  Musicians over there have not had a blues or rock regimen drilled into them like most guys over here.  In rock and blues, changes in the chords played or the melody usually happen at specific predictable times in a song.  The music that we like does not always follow those rules - even the rock stuff.  Then when you throw in something traditional like a fandango or biribilketa, it takes some getting used to for musicians who have been playing the expected changes that are incorporated into rock, blues and even jazz.

4.    Each Basque musical band that you have participated in has a different sound and influence.  (Jimmy’s band, Hordago, Gaupasa, Amuma Says No, triki group)  Now that you are currently in the triki group and ASN.  Where does ASN get its influence from?  Is there a type of music or songs that you would like to lead ASN music towards?
Each group served its own purpose at its own time and had its own limitations.  Jimmy was playing Basque traditional music mixed with popular tunes from the 40's and 50's.  Hordago wanted to give it a more electric feel, but play popular music from the 60's and 70's.  Gaupasa wanted to play only Basque music, but be ready to play dances when needed.  Txantxan Gorriak, the triki group, is teaching young people to play the trikitixa.  Its purpose has never been performance, although that comes with the territory.  We don't teach first and second parts because we want each musician to be able to walk away and play every song on their own for a dance group or a group of people wanting to waltz.  ASN has a collection of some fantastic musicians by anyone's standards.  Spencer played for two years on cruise ships all over the world.  He is a top drummer in the local jazz scene, and Erik on bass, and Dave on guitar, are great musicians as well.  We can now do whatever our ear wants us to do.  It is an amazing feeling to be in such a group.  I always feel like I'm the weak link, but luckily they don't have a lot of choice with triki.

5.    Has ASN created its own music?
We are in the process of writing some things.  We'll be able to talk about that more next summer, I hope.

6.    Music is in your family’s blood as your father was instrumental in building and maintaining Basque music and culture in the western US and now you are carrying on this legacy.  Is this something that came naturally to you?
Jimmy's band practiced in our basement right above my bedroom.  I went to sleep on those nights with the guys playing.  It is a great memory.  Papa and Jimmy always taught me the importance of live music and the responsibility of the musician to help to keep the culture alive.  I don't ever remember them doing that in words, but more in their actions, and their conversations between each other.  I guess it stuck.

7.    You have been involved in Basque dance, teaching and playing txistu, danborra, txalaparta, cuisine, do-directing  a trikitixa group, former business owner of Bar Gernika and the Basque Market, band member of numerous bands including; Jimmy Jausoro’s Band, Hordago, Gaupasa, and now Amuma Says No.   Which of these accomplishments has given you the most satisfaction?  Is there an area of Basque culture that you haven’t delved into that you would like to?
Each area has given me great joy.  I know I'm having a ton of fun right now with Txantxan and ASN, but I can't really say if it is any better than any of the groups I've been involved with before.  Each just has fit my life at that time.  Right now, what we're doing seems to make a lot of sense. 

8.    Dan, I’ve known you since we were in little kids.  I know you are passionate about maintaining Basque culture in the US.  What opportunities and challenges do you see today and for future generations?
If keeping a culture alive is important to any of us, we need to do our part in continuing that culture.  The Basque culture should not be treated as a museum piece to be preserved.  You can never preserve something.  Each year it dissolves a little until after a decade or two, the only thing you have left is a sad remnant of what the culture once was.  The only way a culture continues is that it lives.  In order for it to live, it needs to change.  But if our purpose remains clear, the changes will be for the better of the culture.  ASN is not here to preserve the Basque culture.  We're just here to live it, or at least our interpretation of what it is for us.  If others enjoy that, fantastic!

9.    What else would like to say to the Basque diaspora audience?
Live your Basque culture.  Eating a chorizo, drinking a kalimotxo, and calling yourself Basque does very little to keep our culture alive.  Use your talents whether they're in music, language, story telling, dancing, costume designing, or teaching to keep what we have alive.  You're needed!

 To see more on Amuma Says No you can visit their website: