Organized since 2012, the Kostalde Baleada is a flagship event of Ibaialde, a Basque cultural, sports, and festive association. The event helps fund the diverse activities and projects of this association with 250 members. Some come to row, and/or sing, and/or dance: all come to share a culture. “You would come on a Wednesday when there’s singing, there are more than 80 people here,” smiles Pierre Camus, secretary of the association, founded 46 years ago.
“A desire to create”
At the launch of Ibaialde, its president, Jean-Marc Landarretche, was 20 years old. “We were several of us to be part of a Basque dance association and we wanted something else. It was a time in the Basque Country where there was a great dynamic around Basque culture, a desire to create. In all the villages, associations were born with the desire to ensure that this Basque culture is not only devoted to folklore. Ibaialde joined this movement with the aim of giving people the desire to be interested in Basque culture. The idea was to create events, if possible festive, around Basque sport and culture with the concern, not to make a show, but to give people the desire to participate,” recounts Jean-Marc Landarretche, co-founder of the association.
Ibaialde is “anchored on the banks of the Adour in Bayonne Saint-Esprit. When we lost this location, we relocated to Anglet. That was 35 years ago. We settled in premises on the banks of the Adour as well, so we didn’t even need to change the name,” says Jean-Marc Landarretche, since Ibaialde means “from the side of the river” in Basque.
“Actors in the celebration”
And since then, time has passed, the association has grown from twenty members at its creation to 250 today, participating in essential events. “The taste for creation and animation has allowed us to contribute to the local sports and cultural life,” presents Ibaialde on its site, citing various events it contributes to. Like the Dantzazpi at the Bayonne Festivities, “so that people gather to dance the mutxiko, at a time when it was not as popular as it is now. A lot of people have passed through here to learn the mutxiko, which has boosted registrations,” recounts Jean-Marc Landarretche, who also highlights the Kantaleon, a small booklet of songs allowing partygoers to participate. With the same goal: “allowing people to become actors in the celebration, to make the celebration culturally,” contributes.
“Today, we have no problem in terms of mobilization but we are aware that the average age among us is quite high.”
Sportingly, the association has also been imaginative with the Korrikleta, a race on foot and mountain bike by teams of two, the Hirukasko, a sports hike for which they have since passed the baton, and therefore, since 2012, the Kostalde Baleada which aims to be a “peaceful event,” at the rhythm imposed by the tide. The idea was born “from the desire to interest people in the history of the Basque Coast, in maritime heritage, and obviously in the history of the whale.” Hence the pun, balea meaning whale in Basque, notes the president of the association.
