Basque rock trio Berri Txarrak returns to Korea

By Jon Dunbar

Way back in 2010, the Basque rock trio Berri Txarrak toured Korea. They return this weekend, with help from some of the people who brought them here the first time.

“We saw in 2010 there’s a lot of cool venues, at least in Seoul, and a good scene, so we’re pretty excited as the tour will kick off in Korea,” the band said in an email interview with The Korea Times.

This Friday, they start their tour with a show in Busan, before playing Seoul on Saturday.

Their previous visit, they played at Club FF and the now closed Club Ta, both near Hongik University in western Seoul.

Their recorded music is sleek but sophisticated, centering around pop-punk but touching on hardcore influences as well as more popular rock music. Berri Txarrak, meaning “bad news” in their native language, Euskara, comes from a small corner of Europe located between Spain and France.

“Basque Country is nothing but the place where we come from,” they said. “There’s always been a good rock scene here, ever since punk music exploded in the late 1970s. Nowadays this scene has diversified and, even if we’re a small culture system, there are a lot of good bands making really interesting music.”

This scene has not escaped global attention. The 24-year-old band, formed in 1994, has collaborated with musical legends including producer Steve Albini, Ross Robinson and Bill Stevenson of the U.S. punk band the Descendants. They’ve toured extensively, visiting South America with the Descendants and about to tour Australia with Rise Against.

It’s even more impressive considering they sing entirely in Euskara, a language spoken by only about 1 million people worldwide.

“People tend to tag music in minority languages just as folklore, something just to be shown at an anthropology museum, but that’s something pejorative or due to ignorance,” they said.

“We’re just making contemporary music in every style, but we think it’s important to do it our way. It doesn’t make you better or worse than the rest; we just write rock songs and play them worldwide. And it turns out that we do it in our own language. As simple as that.”

The Busan show is at a club named Someday, with pop-punk bands Vastards and My Golden Age opening. The Seoul show is at CJ Azit Gwangheungchang, with openers Nametag, ABTB and HarryBigButton.

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