A Sociological Study of Sung, Extempore Verse-Making in Basque

This article is based on a project commissioned in 2005 by the Euskal Herriko Bertsozale Elkartea and conducted by researchers from the Sociology and Political Science Departments of the University of the Basque Country. Four main surveys were developed through the course of this research, and two field studies of a quantitative nature were conducted: one with the participants of the semifinals of the bertsolari championship and the other with those performers who went on to the finals. In spring 2006, two further quantitative surveys were completed: one with an audience of ordinary bertsolari events and another with the Euskaldun population (that is, speakers of the Basque language, Euskara). The latter survey is the one upon which the present article is based because an analysis of this study enables us to better discern the relationship that exists between bertsolaritza--improvised Basque oral verse--and its real basis: the Basque speakers themselves. Since the spring of 2006, two further studies of a qualitative nature have been conducted: one Delphi analysis with both experts and bertsolaris (performers) and another based on discussion groups with different social typologies--Euskaldun and non-Euskaldun--in order to better understand how the tradition of bertsolaritza is regarded in the Basque community.