"Kepa
Junkera is an adventurer, a charismatic pioneer, a passionate traveller.
Like Bilbao - the city he was born in - he carries stories and unbridled
creativity. Composer and trikitilari (basque diatonic accordion player),
he confronts, talks about himself, and opens up in meetings always renewed
with musicians as dense and brilliant as he is. " - TRAD MAGAZINE
"The
smaller the accordion, the feistier the sound. That rule of thumb applies
to the trikitixa, the two-row button accordion from the Basque region
of Spain that Kepa Junkera played at Joe''s Pub on Friday night. Like
the accordions used in Irish and Cajun traditional music, the trikitixa
puts a bite behind each reedy note, and Mr. Junkera uses that bite to
make melodies dance. Mr. Junkera has recorded widely with traditional
Basque groups. But on his own, he is an updater of tradition who is
well aware of music beyond his home. (...) His band at Joe's Pub included
guitar, bass and drums, and he used them the way British trad-rockers
do, to underline the muscularity of the tunes and connect old dance
beats to new ones." - Jon Pareles - NEW YORK TIMES
"Bilbao Traveller - It may sound slightly outlandish, but Kepa
Junkera could be compared to the Guggenheim Museum in his native Bilbao.
His rise to fame in the 1990s and the building of the Guggenheim go
hand and hand, because both he and the museum have revitalised the image
of Bilbao and the Basque Country, bringing them onto the world stage."
- Christine Charter - FROOTS