BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — The Klika, a percussive march dating back to the Napoleonic wars, drew a big crowd during Memorial Day weekend at the 50th Basque Festival in Bakersfield.
For 27-year-old Christian Curutchague, performing in the band is one way he connects to his Basque roots locally. He and dozens of other marchers wear sashes, berets and espadrilles decorated with vibrant red and green – the colors of the Ikurrina, or Basque flag..
“I’ve been playing the drums since I can remember. My dad played them, my grandpa and his father; it’s a multigenerational thing. I love it,” he said. “I want to keep the tradition alive.”
The San Joaquin Valley is home to one of the nation’s largest Basque communities. Sheep-herders native to the Pyrenees mountains between Spain and France flocked to the Sierra Nevada in the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, and many eventually settled Kern County.
Their rich heritage was on full display as more than 2,500 people from across the country and world attended the local festival.
“My father was a sheep-herder; he emigrated here at the age of 18 years old. This was the land of opportunity for them,” said Luis Iturriria, president of the Kern County Basque Club, which organized the event.
Grilled lamb and chilled red wine joined the music as hallmarks of the traditional festival.
Fewer families are emigrating from the Basque country in recent decades, shrinking the local population. Still, the Basque Festival and other cultural events are ways to preserve the culture, and pass it on to future generations, Iturriria said.
“Now, it’s up to us, those of us that are first-generation, second- or third-generation. We have to maintain the culture here in America alive,” he said.
That may sound like a tall order, but for descendants of this small community, it’s a lot of fun.
Lauren Batey looked on as her six-year-old daughter, Adeline, performed a traditional Basque dance to a crowd of hundreds.
“I danced when I was her age,” Batey said. “I want to pass it along to my kids, and I want them to pass it along to their kids, and feel a sense of community.”
