Alejandro Aldekoa: Master of Pipe and Tabor Dance Music in the

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his themes only superficially, and any one chapter
may well be worthy of expansion into an entire
monograph. Perhaps also due to space limitations,
he relies on the reader having access to, or extensive
knowledge of, the songs. He rarely provides more
than a stanza or two from a song text, which may
prove frustrating for someone who is not familiar
with the genre. That said, he makes extensive use
of notes and references. Life Flows On in Endless
Song is probably best used in conjunction with a
well-stocked library, as it tantalizes the reader with
many thought-provoking starting points for further
investigation.
E, BRADTKE
Vaughan Williams Memorial Library
Alejandro Aldekoa: Master of Pipe and Tabor
Dance Music in the Basque Country
Sabin Bikandi. Occasional Papers Series, no. 18. Reno, NV:
Genter for Basque Studies, University of Nevada, 2009. 314 pp. Music, Illus. Bibliog.
Index. Integral DVD. ISBN 978-1-877802-89-8. $34.95 (hbk). $29.95 (pbk).
<http://basquebooks,myshopify,com/collections/occasional-papers-series/dvd>
This is a seriously good piece of work, and its title merely scratches the surface of its
contents. The central topic is the txistua, or txistu: the three-hole pipe, played to the
accompaniment of a tabor, that is an essential component of Basque music. The pipe
and tabor tradition is widespread in Spain; the number of holes in the pipe varies from
region to region, but the style of playing remains one-banded. The one-handed pipe
is not unique to the Basques; the other major Iberian manifestation is the Jlabiol of
Gatalonia, also played with a tabor, and of course in England we have our very own
whittle and dub, familiar to morris dancers. However, the Basques have developed the
use of this instrument to a remarkable degree, and unlike in England (or Gatalonia,
for that matter) the txistua is not necessarily a solo instrument and groups of them
may be played in harmony. The author, himself a Basque, goes into this development
thoroughly, which should be no surprise since this book is his published PhD thesis.
Sabin Bikandi's approach centres on the life and work of a particularly noted traditional
player and teacher of music and dance, Alejandro Aldekoa, and in his introduction the
author describes his methods, which are based on first-hand interviews. Bikandi himself
is a distinguished txistua player in his own right, but conservatory-trained. It appears
that in recent decades the txistua has become accepted as an academic instrument
and a split has therefore appeared between tbe traditional and the classically trained
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players. For the former, the music and the dance remain
inseparable, whereas for the latter they are distinct
disciplines. Aldekoa and Bikandi thus represent the two
different approaches to the instrument. To understand
I his subject, the author therefore had to immerse himself
in the dance in order to 'get inside' the traditional style,
and this involved attempting some form of dance
notation. In his introduction, the author describes his
difficulties and his feelings while doing this, and there is
an important resonance here for English readers because
one may understand all the better Cecil Sharp's efforts
in notating morris dancing.
This is a very dense book; its 314 pages are
packed with facts, figures, illustrations, and analysis.
Nevertheless, it remains very readable, since the lump
is leavened with anecdotes which engage the reader, and it contains a useful glossary
of Basque terms. Of particular historical interest is how the music and dance survived
during the Franco dictatorship, and how they remain an integral part of Basque culture.
Also, for dance scholars, the two chapters detailing the dances and how they are taught
are illuminating. It is worth mentioning the enclosed DVD at this point, because this
contains footage of the dances as well as the music. The agility of the high-kicking
dancers is extraordinary.
The chapter on music theory completes the picture. Apart from giving a quick
summary of the various instruments used for Basque traditional music, there is also
passing mention of competitive song improvisation, which cannot really be described
in a book but needs to be experienced at first hand; sensibly, there are some excellent
examples on the DVD. The bulk of the chapter is a highly technical analysis of the tabor
playing and the txistua playing. The stress here is on how the musicians adapt the music
to fit the local dance variations so that the music always supports and never dictates to
the dancers. A sound knowledge of music is essential in order to understand this part,
but it repays the effort. There are detailed examples showing the interaction between the
music and the dance steps. Bikandi then traces the changes that have happened to both
the tabor and the txistua in recent generations; for example, earlier txistuak did not follow
modern equitempered pitch sounds. He also explains the fingering of the instrument to
get full chromatic scales. This chapter alone is worthy of being a book in its own right.
Having enthused about the book, I do have a couple of quibbles. The US English
shows an all-too-familiar culture/vocabulary problem, the most obvious and absurd
example being the translation of the Spanish ayuntamiento as 'town hall' or 'city hall'.
The correct term is, of course, 'local council', since even small villages have their own
ayuntamientos, though it should be noted that these have far more devolved power than
local councils in the UK, especially at the parish/village level. My second quibble is that
there is little reference to one-handed or three-hole pipes outside the Basque tradition;
some comparison with the Catalan and English forms would have been interesting and
useful. But they are quibbles, not major criticisms. This book, with its associated DVD,
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is a tour de force that seems destined to become a - if not the - definitive work on
the subject, and is essential reading for anyone interested in three-hole pipe music, or
Iberian folk music and dance at large.
SIMON FUREY
Sant Miquel de Fluvià, Catalonia, Spain
Work Songs
Ted Gioia. Durbam and London:
Duke University Press, 2006. xiii + 352 pp. Bibliog. Index. ISBN-0-8223-3726-6.
In tbe epilogue to Work Songs, Ted Gioia imagines a
future in which 'people's work would also [...] be their
song, even when no music could be heard'. This book
is as mucb about labour as about music, striving to
(re)unite tbe two through a combination of historical
research and polemic. Gioia's Utopian vision is infused
with the values he associates with a pre-industrial past.
Here, work was something dignified, however hard the
conditions, and the songs of the workers - of farmers,
sailors, and spinners - were unpolluted by the 'aural
effluvium of FM radio'. This romantic view of history,
accompanied by a general distaste for modern popular
culture, pervades the book as a whole. But Gioia
TED GIOIA
never intended this to be a serious historical study,
cheerfully disregarding chronological and geographical
boundaries (though with one ear always attuned to the
contemporary USA) as he sweeps the reader along in his enthusiasm and passion for
the subject. Work Songs is just one stage in the author's mission to reaffirm the power —
indeed, the necessity - of music in everyday life. There is a companion volume. Healing
Songs, with plans for a third, entitled Love Songs.
The definition of'work song' is broad, encompassing songs sung during labour; songs
about work; and songs composed, performed, or consumed in a work-related environment
(from commercial advertising jingles to protest songs of tbe labour movement). His
unwillingness to be too tightly constrained necessarily limits the insights Gioia is able
to offer into any one specific area. In particular, practices of singing whilst working
are given relatively little detailed analytical attention. However, the author makes no
apologies for 'trying to construct the big picture'. Although there is limited new primary
historical research here, the synthesis of such an eclectic range of published materials
and recorded work songs into an accessible text is impressive. The referencing system
is unfortunately rather difficult to follow, with no numbered notes in the main text to
alert the specialist reader to useful sources. The select discography of 'Recommended
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