Mice
Saturday 19 October, 9:00 pm
Teatro Nuovo Giovanni da Udine
MICE (Basque Country)
Mice is the pseudonym behind which singer-songwriter Miren Narbaiza hides. An intimate place where she questions song form in order to experiment with her own vocals. The result is a handful of songs imbued with dark atmospheres and driven by sharp guitars. Seemingly caught between 80s post-punk and 90s indie rock, Mice releases the voice of her inner self in Euskara, her mother tongue.
INTERVIEW WITH MICE
What is an untranslatable phrase, an expression or a word in your language that you love? And why?
Hizkuntza bat ez da galtzen ez dakitenek ikasten ez duelako, dakitenek erabiltzen ez dutelako baizik.
A language is not lost because those who don’t know it don’t learn it. It’s because those who know it don’t speak it.(J.A. Artze).
I love this statement J.A. Artze did. Unless you speak a language, it will not survive. So do not look (just) at those who don ́t speak it, and go and use it yourself. This is the first step I think in order to maintain a language alive, to use it, to speak it, let people hear you speaking it, this sounds, words, etc… it may also lead those who don’t speak it to learn it.
“Ganora”. You use this word to describe the way things should be done, the correct way to do things “ganoraz”. A person that do things this way is a well-founded person. If not, you are a “ganorabako”. I like it!
What are 3 adjectives you would use to describe your language? Why did you choose them?
Old, Unique, Survivor.
Euskera is a pre-Indo-European language, that has survived until now, and it is still struggling to survive. It seems like a miracle that I can speak it, understand it. It has overcome wars, a dictatorship, and all kind of attacks over its history. Nowadays, the speakers are divided in three different territories (Navarre, Euskadi, Iparralde)and in two different states, France and Spain. Many people work for the survival of the Basque language, as well as the Basque culture. That’s why I chose the adjectives old, unique and survivor.
Some people think that making music/art in a minoritized language closes many doors – what are instead the doors that it has opened to you?
The doors that might open singing/creating in another language other than mine, would not represent me. I am my language as I am my culture, my family, my whole being as a human, all of it comes from that. From my land, my tradition, and from there I try to look forward and create a brand-new world every day. The doors that shall open will be for someone like me. And not others. And I hope these doors to be honest doors, real spaces that come from a sincere practice of art. Singing in Basque has had an impact on many people, in a positive way. I have been to Mexico, Japan, Italy, France, Germany. I would say the majority of people have thanked to hear new sounds, new languages other than the usual English, Spanish etc.
If you could make an appeal to anyone to keep their language alive, what would you recommend? What do you see as the biggest challenges or difficulties to maintain your language?
I think it is the people, the native speakers as well as the other citizens that live in those minoritized language territories that have the responsibility of learning, speaking, writing, studying, etc. in these languages. Of course, this can’t happen without the support of local authorities/governments, their budget should also help these policies in order to keep the languages and their cultures alive. We need honest and brave moves.
How would you respond to someone who considers your language old and obsolete?
A language is alive as long as I can communicate with somebody else in that language. Anyone saying that is probably a “big language”speaker, who has no appreciation to other cultures, to diversity, to the history of humanity.
A short sentence to describe your music
Alternative rock music inspired by human feelings and nature around us.