Kortatu was a Basque

ska punk Ska punk (also spelled ska-punk) is a fusion genre that mixes ska music and punk rock music together. (sometimes spelled skacore) is a subgenre of ska punk that mixes ska with hardcore punk. Early ska punk mixed both 2 tone and ska with hard ...

band from the

Basque Autonomous Community The Basque Country (; eu, Euskadi ; es, País Vasco ), also called Basque Autonomous Community ( eu, Euskal Autonomia Erkidegoa, links=no, EAE; es, Comunidad Autónoma del País Vasco, links=no, CAPV), is an autonomous community of Spain. It ...

formed in

Irun Irun ( es, Irún, eu, Irun) is a town of the Bidasoaldea region in the province of Gipuzkoa in the Basque Autonomous Community, Spain. History It lies on the foundations of the ancient Oiasso, cited as a Roman-Vasconic town. During the Span ...

in the summer of 1984. Kortatu was born in the context of the first democracy years in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

in 1984. They had a big significance for left-wing basque nationalism (which rejected the new constitutional project) as precursors of a new wave of music: Basque Radical Rock (Rock Radikal Vasco or RRV in Spanish). They reached a huge degree of influence in Basque and Spanish punk, as other bands like

La Polla Records La Polla Records was a punk rock band from the Basque Country, formed in 1979 in Salvatierra/Agurain, a small town in Álava, Spain. Its founders were Evaristo Páramos "Evaristo" on vocals, Maleguin on bass, Fernandito on drums and Txarly a ...

, Cicatriz and Eskorbuto became famous in the 80s underground scene. It was a very popular band in Basque Country, and also in the rest of Spain.

Music style

Although labeled from the beginning as a ''radical Basque rock'', Kortatu tried to fight against any classification, even if political links with

Herri Batasuna Herri Batasuna (; en, Popular Unity; HB) was a far-left Basque nationalist coalition in Spain. It was founded in 1978 and defined itself as abertzale, left-wing, socialist, and supported the independence of the Greater Basque Country. It was r ...

were evident. They also faced some

censorship Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments ...

problems, especially when they tried to add a picture of

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

monarch A monarch is a head of stateWebster's II New College DictionarMonarch Houghton Mifflin. Boston. 2001. p. 707. for life or until abdication, and therefore the head of state of a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest authority and power i ...

Juan Carlos I depicted as a

robot A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may ...

. In the five year life span of the band they moved from

ska Ska (; ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walki ...

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

and even hip hop, eventually disbanding the formation after seeing

Public Enemy "Public enemy" is a term which was first widely used in the United States in the 1930s to describe individuals whose activities were seen as criminal and extremely damaging to society, though the phrase had been used for centuries to describe ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

and creating a bigger project, Negu Gorriak. Although their lyrics also evolved from "party-ska" to "combat-rock" (in their last record all the songs were sung in

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

), their style along the lines of social and political protest stayed intact.

Influences

They were clearly influenced by

The Clash The Clash were an English rock band formed in London in 1976 who were key players in the original wave of British punk rock. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they also contributed to the and new wave movements that emerged in the w ...

, in fact, their frontman

Fermin Muguruza Fermin Muguruza (born 20 April 1963) is a Basque rock musician, singer, songwriter, producer, record label manager, and co-founder of the ska punk band Kortatu, active from 1983 to 1988, and of the crossover group Negu Gorriak, active from 1990 ...

decided to create a

band after seeing Strummer's band in a 1980 gig in Donostia.

Demos and Tours

They recorded a demo which included their first three songs in 1985. In the same year, they included those songs in the landmark album known as "Four's Album", because of the sharing with other three new bands: Cicatriz, Jotakie and Kontuz-Hi. That year they toured first time around all the Basque Country, and also played in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

and

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

. On May 31, played in

Martutene ''For the novel with this title, see Ramon Saizarbitoria'' Martutene is a neighbourhood situated south of Donostia-San Sebastián, Guipúzcoa (Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de Españ ...

Prison ( Donostia) with

Barricada Barricada (from Spanish: ''Barricade'') were a Navarrese hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the ...

. Some months later,

Joseba Sarrionandia Joseba Sarrionandia Uribelarrea (Iurreta, Biscay, April 13, 1958) is a Basque people, Basque writer who has published a large number of books of poetry and short stories, as well as novels. He has been awarded on numerous occasions for his work, a ...

, a recognized writer and poet who was imprisoned because of his

ETA Eta (uppercase , lowercase ; grc, ἦτα ''ē̂ta'' or ell, ήτα ''ita'' ) is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the close front unrounded vowel . Originally denoting the voiceless glottal fricative in most dialects, ...

membership, escaped with another prisoner, Iñaki Pikabea, inside a loudspeaker, after a gig by

Imanol Imanol is a given name and the Basque language equivalent of Immanuel. It is the first name of several notable people: * Imanol Agirretxe (born 1987), Spanish football forward *Imanol Arias (born 1956), Spanish actor *Imanol Erviti (born 1983), S ...

. Kortatu and Barricada were accused of preparing the escapes, and they were banned in any prison to play, but nothing was proved. After that they wrote their best-known song, Sarri Sarri, about the escape of Sarrionandia. In fact, it was a cover, including new lyrics, of

Toots & the Maytals The Maytals, known from 1972 to 2020 as Toots and the Maytals, are a Jamaican musical group, one of the best known ska and rocksteady vocal groups. The Maytals were formed in the early 1960s and were key figures in popularizing reggae music. ...

´ ''Chatty Chatty''. In 1987, they went across the Iron Curtain to perform in Poland on Róbrege Festival.

The book

The book "El estado de las cosas de Kortatu: lucha, fiesta y guerra sucia" (Lengua de Trapo, 2013), translated as "The current state of Kortatu-related things: fight, party and dirty war" was published in December 2013, written by Roberto Herreros and Isidro Lopez. This work offers an analysis of the historical context in which the radical basque rock was developed.

Members

Guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

and

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

* Íñigo Muguruza: Bass * Treku Armendariz: drums * Kaki Arkarazo:

(From 1988)

Discography

*''(No title)'' (Soñua, 1985) together with Cicatriz, Jotakie and Kontuz-Hi!. Reedited on CD by Oihuka in 2000. *''Kortatu'' (Soñua, 1985). *''A la calle'' (

Maxi single A maxi single or maxi-single (sometimes abbreviated to MCD or CDM) is a music single release with more than the usual two tracks of an A-side song and a B-side song. The first maxi singles Mungo Jerry's first single, " In the Summertime" was t ...

featuring 3 themes) (Soñua, 1986). *''El estado de las cosas'' (Soñua, 1986). *''A Front Line'' Compilation (best of) (Red Rhino-Organik, 1988). Reedited on CD by Oihuka in 1998. *''Kolpez kolpe'' (Oihuka, 1988). Reedited on CD by Esan-Ozenki in 1998. *''Azken guda dantza'' (live, double album) (Nola!, 1988). Some CD reeditions included bonus tracks and/or modifications: *In the CD reedition of ''Kortatu'' (Oihuka, 1998), two songs were included: ''Mierda de Ciudad'' y ''El último SKA de Manolo Rastamán''. *In the CD reedition of ''El estado de las cosas'' (Oihuka, 1998), all three songs from the ''A la calle''

were included. *In the CD reedition of ''Azken guda dantza'' (Esan-Ozenki, 1992), the

beeps are removed from the "Aizkolari" song.

References

{{Reflist Basque music bands Spanish musical groups Spanish punk rock groups 1984 establishments in the Basque Country (autonomous community) Musical groups established in 1984 Musical groups disestablished in 1998 People from Irun