Political frontiers have continually varied according to the
vagaries of history. Towns, people and cultures have been divided. However,
there have always been people ready to jump the barriers without permision.
Culture smugglers, traffickers of languages, dances and traditions, dream dealers,
have striven to meet and share the booty.
In the 'sharnègo' areas between Gascony and the Basque Country the two
cultures have been able to live together and maintain their own spaces and their
shared spaces. They have created different forms of expression from the same
source. One could say that they naturally return to their Vascon past.
Xarnege is a meeting place not a mixture. A crossroads not
a fence, a look to the future from the roots, not an inert museum. Everyone's
and no-one's land. A place where you share and continue the nocturnal journey
with your sack full of music.
Xarnege, or Sharnègo, is a Gascon word which refers to villages on the Gascony and Basque border in which people express themselves in both Basque and Gascon. And so the musical project of Xarnege is a blending and includes many of the abundant elements common to both cultures.