The Ahots-Musika Topaketak (BAT), Basauri's Choral Mass Parade, is once again a cause for celebration. While last year marked its Golden Jubilee, this edition coincides with the 80th anniversary of Basauri Koral Elkartea. This is a very special milestone, as its 75th birthday “coincided with the pandemic, and no celebration could be organized as it deserved,” recalled Mayor Asier Iragorri during the event's presentation.

Consequently, the program of performances, scheduled between May 9 and 23, has “prioritized the presence of choral groups from the town and its surroundings,” to the detriment of formations from other origins. “What we want is to bring the music made in our locality to the people of Basauri,” stated Mikel Barrio, president of Basauri Koral Elkartea.

The festival maintains the essence of its recent editions with three performances at San Pedro church and the usual closing event at the Social Antzokia. “All are free entry, although to attend the final concert at the theater, an invitation must be acquired,” specified Barrio, who also thanked the religious temple and the Basauri City Council “for the cession of these spaces.”

Regarding the concerts at the parish, the BAT program kicks off at 7:30 PM on May 9 with the vocal quality of the Coral Polifónica Piloñesa from Asturias. On May 15, on the same stage but at 8:00 PM, it will be the turn of the Basauri group Soinu Bidea, and on Sunday, May 17, at 7:00 PM, the white-voice choir Zirzira Ahots Taldea, also from Basauri, will take over.

The final show at the Social Antzokia will be on May 23, starting at 7:30 PM. Titled 80 años de cine (80 Years of Cinema), it will feature twenty members of Basauri Koral Elkartea accompanied by 45 members of Ugaoko Sarea Abesbatza. “The difficult part, in an event like this, is to provide music, and we didn't want it to be canned, but live,” highlighted José Ángel Robles, director of the Basauri group.

For this, the concert will feature the excellent work of the string quartet formed by violinists Almudena Martínez Pérez and Izaskun Payas Arrizabalaga, violist Rosa Gutiérrez Torre, and cellist Jone Miren Elorduy Pérez. “We will also have pianist Alberto Garayo, flutist Iraide Bilbao, guitarist Eneko Martínez, bassist Fito Aguado, and Axular Bahillo on percussion,” he detailed.

This ensemble of vocal and instrumental artists will perform various soundtracks from the seventh art “because our 80 years of history have been like a movie,” affirmed Robles, who also previewed some titles such as the song Memory from the film The Cats, themes from the Oscar-winning La La Land, or the musical Beauty and the Beast, “which was a great milestone for us and with which we packed Basauri.”