"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