Berri Txarrak

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Berri Txarrak
Gorka Urbizu on BBK Live Festival 2007
Gorka Urbizu on BBK Live Festival 2007
Background information
Origin Navarre
Flag of Spain Spain
Genre(s) Alternative rock
Years active 1994-present
Label(s) Gor Diskak
Website Official Website
Members
Gorka Urbizu
Aitor Goikoetxea
Mikel López
Former members
Aitor Oreja

Berri Txarrak (Basque: "Bad News") is a Spanish alternative rock band founded in Lekunberri, Navarre in 1994. Their lineup remained unchanged until Aitor Oreja, the guitarist, left the group after the fourth disk, Libre ©. All of Berri Txarrak's music is sung in Basque.[1]

Contents

[edit] History

Berri Txarrak was founded in Lekunberri, Navarre in 1994 as a parallel project of Gorka Urbizu (vocals and guitar) and Aitor Goikoetxea (drums). In 1997 they began to focus fully on the band, which had two new members: Mikel López (bass) and Aitor Oreja (guitar).[1]

After having released a demo with six songs, the band obtained several awards in different demo and new act competitions, which allowed them to record their eponymous album, which was released on Autumn 1997. Berri Txarrak was a success inside the Basque rock scene thanks to singles like "Lotsarik gabe", "500 urte ta gero" and "Ardifiziala". According to the band's members, that album was a step forward for their music and it became the base for their later works.[1]

In 1999, the band released Ikasten. In this second album, Berri Txarrak's style had also evolved. Tracks such as "Ikusi arte", "Ez" or "Ikasten" allowed the band to offer a lot of live acts.[1]

Two years later, on 2001, Eskuak/Ukabilak was released. It features famous songs such as "Oihu", "Stereo" and "Biziraun", which obtained the Gaztea Saria award for best song of the year. With this album the band obtained the attention of public and press outside the Basque Country.[1]

2003 was the year in which the band released their fourth album, Libre ©. This album obtained a very good reception from critics and brought the band to their first tour on Europe (UK, Denmark and Germany). Libre © is Berri Txarrak's most hardcore album. The album received the best Spanish album of the year award from the magazine Rock Sound and Euskadi Gaztea. The album includes interesting songs such as "Denak ez du balio" (which features additional vocals from Rise Against's Tim McIlrath), "Hil nintzen eguna" and "Izena, izana, ezina".[1]

After a long tour, the guitarist Aitor Oreja abandoned the band. In 2005, Gorka, Aitor G and Mikel decided to carry on as a three-member band and focused on what would be Berri Txarrak's fifth album, Jaio.Musika.Hil. Then Berri toured on Mexico and Nicaragua.[1] That year, Berri Txarrak toured the US.[2] The band supported Rise Against on their 2006 European Tour.[3] Currently, they are showing their new songs on tour.[1]

Berri Txarrak has worked on many music compilations like Nafarroa, Hitza Dantzan (GOR, 2001), Tributo a Judas Priest (Zero Records, 2000) and the successful single "Bisai Berriak", composed in 2002.[1]

[edit] Members

[edit] Discography

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i (Basque) Berri Txarrak's biography. www.berritxarrak.net. Retrieved on 2007-10-03.
  2. ^ Basque Educational Organization. Accessed 2007-07-19.
  3. ^ Rise Against Concert Review. Drowned in Sound, 10/9/06. Accessed July 19, 2007.