Terraza Mintzola will become a vantage point for international experts

The Bertsolaris Championship is a unique event within the world of improvised singing and the final is met with great anticipation both at home and abroad.

John Foley, from the University of Missouri, joined us for the 2009 championship. He is a leading figure in the field of oral tradition and said that he couldn't think of any other event that is organised every four years and attracts so many fans.

As a result, many international experts will follow the performance on 17th December live.

Joining us will be John Zemke, current director of the Center for Studies in Oral Tradition at the University of Missouri. John Foley founded the research centre in 1986 and it is a leading organisation internationally in the field of oral tradition. Last year, Zembke joined us and took part in the Europa bat-batean conference organised by Mintzola Ahozko Lantegia and San Sebastian 2016 European Capital of Culture.

The final will involve Catalan and Mallorcan glosadores, Andalusian troubadours and Sardinian cantadoris, amongst others.

The American researcher Jacqueline Urla will also be in the BEC. This expert anthropologist based her doctoral thesis on the Basque identity and has published several works on Basque culture.

The anthropologist Karin Barber from the University of Birmingham will be also be in attendance. Her work is developed in the field of popular culture and oral expression.

It should be noted that alongside these in the Terraza Mintzola will be various researchers studying bertsolarism, as well as representatives from UPV/EHU and Mikel Laboa Katedra.

In addition, we will also be joined by representatives of the associations working to promote improvisation, and specifically its glosa form in Catalonia and Mallorca and its regueifa form in Galicia. The Mintzola Oral Tradition Centre has an ongoing relationship with them, running joint projects.

There are many forms of sung improvisation around the world and different improvisers will accompany us in the final of the championship, including: glosadores from Catalonia and Mallorca, troubadours from Andalusia, cantadoris from Sardinia, and dengbês from Kurdistan. Some international media organisations will also be present.