BLOG
Hella Basque is a blog written by Anne-Marie Chiramberro about Basque American experiences and topics of interest to the Basque American community.
What started as a personal project in 2013 has grown into an online community of like-minded people. Not only people of Basque heritage, but also others interested in the Basque Country and its diaspora.
If you’re new to the blog, start with some of Hella Basque’s most popular posts:
- Basques Are Unique: It’s In Our Blood
- The Ultimate List of Basque Restaurants in the United States (2019)
- 9 Movies Filmed in the Basque Country
- Basque Festivals in the United States: Summer 2019
- 7 Videos on Basque Sheepherders in the United States
YOUTUBE CHANNEL
In March 2019, Hella Basque expanded to include a YouTube channel. Every week, Anne-Marie publishes a new video on different topics having to do with Basque culture. See our most popular videos:
- What Is the Basque Language?
- Who Are the Basques?
- Ancestry DNA Results Say You’re Basque – What Now?
- Elko National Basque Festival 2019
- Kern County Basque Club Festival 2019
WALKING TOUR
In June 2019, Anne-Marie started leading a historical walking tour in her hometown of San Francisco, California that traces the Basque history of the area. The tour visits the old Basque section of San Francisco, which goes through Nob Hill, Chinatown, and North Beach. Guests can see the locations of the Basque handball courts, hotels, and restaurants of years past, and learn about the history of Basque immigration from the California Gold Rush until today.
You can learn more about the Basque walking tour here.
I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California, the daughter of a French American mother and a Basque immigrant father (Aita). He is from St.-Michel / Eiheralarre outside of St. Jean-pied-de-port / Donibane Garazi, the capital of the Basque province of Baxenabarre.
My parents raised me with a strong sense of my Basque roots, filling my childhood with vacations to visit family in the Basque Country, countless trips to Basque events across the United States, and 11 years dancing with the San Francisco Basque Club dance groups. I also taught at Udaleku, a Basque summer camp organized by the North American Basque Organizations.
Anne-Marie and Aita at Wool Growers Restaurant in Bakersfield, California
Anne-Marie and Aita at Wool Growers Restaurant in Bakersfield, California
I’m interested in how diasporas keep their culture alive in their new homes, instilling the next generations with a sense of identity, but also in how they maintain connections with the home left behind.
I aim for Hella Basque to create a bridge between the Basque Country and its diaspora.
When I moved away for college, I left behind my Basque American community and felt very disconnected from my Basque identity. An isolation I imagine many in the diaspora may feel at one point or another. My hope is that Hella Basque can help Basques in the diaspora feel more connected to their heritage, whether or not they have physical ties to a Basque community.
I have a great love of travel and try to visit the Basque Country every year or so. In the meantime, I stay in touch with what’s going on through social media and the news.
When I’m not online, I love hiking and try to get outside as much as possible. I spent the month of October 2017 walking nearly 600 miles across northern Spain on the Camino de Santiago de Compostela from St. Jean-pied-de-port / Donibane Garazi to the coast of Galicia.
If you want to know more, feel free to reach out through Hella Basque’s Contact page or on social media: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter.
See also this 2014 interview I did with Urtzi Urrutikoetxea from Euskal Irrati Telebista (EiTB):
