Basque society has passed down its heritage by word of mouth: bertsolaritza and Basque songs are clear examples of this. In the Basque Country, we owe a great deal to the community, because it has not only been the source of many cultural initiatives, but has also been essential in sustaining them for many years.

Kantagune, kantuz, or kantari are some of these initiatives. They are activities whose aim is to sing Basque songs in the streets, and they are common in many towns.

BUT HOW WAS KANTARI APP CREATED?

Bilboko Konpartsak were responsible for launching the Bilbo Kantari initiative. Once a month, and especially, during Bilbao’s Semana Grande, a popular street parade would wind through the Old Town of Bilbao to sing traditional Basque songs. That’s how I started singing with my friends, and I bought the (paper) booklet they offered to learn the lyrics. We soon noticed that these booklets often got lost or soaked, and that many people didn’t want to carry them around once the event was over. So we realized we needed a digital alternative, something you could always have with you and that weighed nothing. In 2012, we responded to that need by creating an app. We launched the first version of Kantari App for Android, which at the time only included the Bilbo Kantari booklet.

Because the proposal was fully digital, each booklet included the lyrics of all the songs along with the corresponding karaoke-style videos. For this, we worked with Gabi de la Maza, creator of several video-karaokes in Basque, who shared some of his videos with us.

SOME TOWNS JOINED THE COMMUNITY

Some towns saw what we had created and immediately wanted to join the initiative. They proposed creating a new app adapted to each town. This led to our first major decision: no. Kantari App had to be a single app, bringing together the booklets from all towns. The most important thing was the community of people who love singing, a community united around one shared application.

WHAT OTHER CHANGES HAVE EMERGED?

We released versions for iOS and for the web. Along the way, we experimented with different technologies to develop the app: we’ve used at least four. There were times when Android and iOS didn’t make things easy for us. One day, for example, we were removed from Android and had to create a different version almost overnight. Another time, all the videos disappeared without warning and we had to move them quickly on both Android and iOS to fix the issue. On another occasion, when uploading a new version to the App Store, Apple rejected it, arguing that we had to guarantee we had the rights to distribute the songs. As a result, we had to prepare a message in English explaining that these were generally traditional Basque songs, most of them over 100 years old, anonymous, and that under our legislation we had the right to share them. We also added that previous versions of the app had already been approved. Eventually, we got a yes.

Every time we moved forward and released a new version of the app, we knew we were carrying a huge responsibility, because thousands of people would receive it on their phones. Each step forward made the work more complex.

Over the years, we’ve sometimes been told that the app is too Biscayan; and it’s true that Bilbao, Plentzia, Urdaibai, Sopela, Sestao, Bermeo, Etxebarri, Igorre, and Getxo already have their booklets in the app, and even Athletic Club has its own space for its many songs. But it’s also true that Arrasate, Zarautz, and soon Gasteiz appear in Kantari App as well.

In addition to local lists, there is also a booklet dedicated to Christmas carols.

THE AGENDA: THE FOUNDATION OF THE COMMUNITY

Kantari was already spreading when we began tackling a challenge that had long been pending: creating an agenda. With it, singing enthusiasts could clearly see when the next kantaris would take place, the list of songs to be sung, their order, the stops, and the poster for that day’s event.

It was a way to create communication: to ensure people received information and had everything at hand to follow the Kantari. You just open the app and start singing, stop by stop. It’s also a way to practice songs, with lyrics and video.

THE INTRANET, DO IT YOURSELF

There came a time when technological challenges caused us many headaches: the ups and downs of different app versions… but managing content also demanded a great deal of time. If a new song appeared in a town, I had to manage it myself, along with videos, the agenda, and many other things. That’s why we had to create a technological tool so each town could manage its own songs, agenda, and booklets: the intranet.

We created a web-based intranet where each town, after registering with a user account, could manage its content. There were many options: adding new songs, uploading the poster for the next week’s kantari, filling in the song list, uploading new videos, and more. The pioneers were the people from Urdaibai and Zarautz. By then, I had already tested and used it, and once the training was done, they were managing their town’s content directly from their mobile phones.

From that point on, when a town wants to join Kantari App, I send them an intranet user guide (specifically a video), and once they’ve seen it, I send them a questionnaire. We request personal data, describe the details of the local initiative, and ask questions about how it operates so they can make proper use of the intranet. It’s important to remember that any changes go instantly to thousands of phones.

From time to time, we’ve also delivered in-person training sessions for interested towns.

KANTARI APP: A COMMUNITY WITHIN THE COMMUNITY

The true community is the community of singing enthusiasts, but a community has also formed around the app itself. To date, the Android version has been downloaded on 90,000 different devices, and around 14,000 people carry the app in their pocket as we write this article. iOS users are there too.

Given what the Basque community is like, these numbers make us proud. We’re also proud to show who we are, because even if we are few, we not only value it, we protect it.

MY FAVORITE KID

Sometimes, half-jokingly, I talk about Kantari App as if it were my favorite child. I’ve worked on many IT-related things, but Kantari is very special to me.

It’s a wonderful path for expanding our culture, because every day many people sing and learn songs thanks to this app. It’s also an extraordinary opportunity to bring traditional Basque songs closer to young people.

Sometimes I go to Bilbo Kantari or other kantaris and try to immerse myself in them. I watch people and analyze them: Is the app useful? Is it easy to understand? How could it be improved? How many young and older people use it? What’s the average age? For me, it’s a gift: it gives me the chance to learn. There have been times when people explained to me how to use the app, and other times (most of the time) I explained it to them. You also see how people encourage others to download the app and teach each other “where we are now.” They feel it as something of their own, and that moves me deeply.

Accessibility has also been a challenge for me, because sometimes things need to be made much simpler even if that feels complicated to me, but we’re working on it.

In the end, collaboration has its own balance: adults often master Basque songs but not technology, while for young people it’s the other way around. This is also a way to help bridge the digital divide. Kantari App is a means of educating each other, a way to strengthen this very diverse community.

WORK DONE BY VOLUNTEERS

In the Basque Country, many things have progressed thanks to communal work, and Kantari App is no exception. Feeding data, developing applications, teaching, helping, creating logos… everything has been done by volunteers. Occasionally, we’ve had to hire a couple of people for very specific technical tasks, and that money has come out of our own pockets, because we’ve never applied for a grant. We don’t ask towns for anything either, although one town occasionally provides funding to help pay for infrastructure.

Beyond that, the app requires licenses, a server, cloud services from major tech companies, and more.

Looking ahead, if we want to improve, we may need to learn how to ask for more: make lists of what needs to be done, prioritize, look for volunteers, and even ask for a bit of funding, while keeping the app free.

KANTARI APP IS MORE THAN A TOOL FOR SHARING BASQUE CULTURE

Kantari App is the result of community work, returned to the community. We should see it as something that goes beyond technology: a tool that brings together our heritage, that brings the Basque language into the public square, and that bears witness to who we were and who we are becoming. It is one more initiative that seeks to make a so-called minority language grow strong, a box that holds treasures like Xalbadorren Heriotzean or Sarri-Sarri inside it. Now it’s in your hands to install the app on your phone and open that box.