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The Government of Navarre has begun the process of declaring bertsolaritza as an asset of cultural interest (BIC) in the intangible goods category after a proposal made earlier this year by the Nafarroako Bertsozaleen Elkartea Association. This declaration implies endowing bertsolaritza, or the art of improvised verse, with the highest degree of protection as set forth in the Law on Cultural Heritage, and is expected to take place this autumn. 

Iruña-Pamplona.   The opening of a file that will declare bertsolaritza as a cultural asset, carried out by the General Directorate of Culture, includes the request made by the Nafarroako Bertsozaleen Elkartea, entity that brings together most of the agents involved in different fields.  The procedures for public information and the report prepared by the Navarrese Council of Culture will compete the process of declaring bertsolaritza of cultural interest in Navarre, according to the regional executive.

The request submitted by the Nafarroako Bertsozaleen Elkartea includes detailed documentation of this cultural asset, as well as a report that explains the historical and ethnographic aspects, the establishment and participation of communities, the transformation in time, the modes of transmission and the risks they face for its safeguard.

The record has been completed with a valued report drawn up by the technical director of the archive of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Navarre, Alfredo Asiain Ansorena who, in his capacity as an ethnolinguistic expert, has contributed very interesting aspect to the analysis of bertsolaritza and its consideration as Intangible Cultural Heritage in Navarre.

Bertsolartiza is defined as a modality of improvised song in Basque that is done by rhyming and measuring verses and stanzas without any instrumental accompaniment.  From the historical point of view, although there are some references in the 15^th century, the earliest documented cases are in the 18^th century.

The tune, rhyme and metric are the technical aspects of the bertso, whose strength lies in its poetic value and in the brilliance of its reasoning.  Creation is part of the improvisation that bertsolaris have kept alive in this cultural manifestation for centuries, and have transmitted orally from one generation to the next.  The second essential piece of bertsolaritza is the audience that becomes an active agent in whichever of it many forms.

This will become the sixth declared asset of cultural interest in Navarre: Carnival de Lantz (2009), Carnival in Ituren and Zubieta (2009), Tribute to the Three Cows (2001), the Bolantak from Luzaide-Valcarlos( 2012) and the “Paloteado de Cortes,” stick dance (2014).