The Process Of Creating Improvised Bertsos
Improvised verse is, above all, and as its name indicates, an act of improvisation.
“To improvise” is a verb which often has negative undertones in present-day society. Used in this sense, it is the last recourse of those who are unable to plan or build on what might have been planned; it is a last minute “everyone for themselves” desperation, the result of which is always imperfect and ephemeral.
The perception of a positive side to “improvisation”, on the other hand, abounds in the sporting context, when one super sports-person or another has been capable of improvising a move here or a strike there, or such-and-such a manager has been able to solve a problem on the spot, undoubtedly due to his great capacity and genius for “improvisation”.
As far as bertsolaris are concerned, the act of improvisation has nothing to do with either of these phenomena. The bertsolari does not improvise for lack of ability to plan; nor because (s)he is necessarily an extremely talented person. For the bertsolari, improvisation is a way of expressing her/his ideas and feelings, a form of cultural manifestation which goes way back in time and is part of the cultural heritage in which the bertsolari has been immersed from childhood. For bertsolaris, improvisation is a pre-established framework of entertainment wherein their relationship with themselves and their surroundings can be resolved dialectically.
The improvised bertso has something magical about it and, although it is in no way magic, this is what the public expects, waiting in expectation for the white rabbit to appear, knowing full well that the top hat does not have a false bottom, unless it is the linguistic and dialectic skill of the bertsolari. Improvising bertsos is neither trickery, on the one hand, nor is it necessarily the fruit of an extraordinary genius.
It may seem paradoxical, but improvisation for the bertsolaris is very much a thought-out act. They have continuously lived out and practised situations analogous to those they may have to face, at any given moment, on the stage of their extempore art. They have learnt to work the oral and mental skills of this art form within the rules of improvised bertsolaritza (the given musical airs, rhyme, meter, etc.) in such a way that what may seem to the outsider to be restrictions are, in fact, aids which enable them to improvise more freely. They have become used to soaking up everything that may, at some later time, come in handy at the moment of improvisation.