He was born in Bilbao in 1967. From the 1987-88 course he began learning and inmediately teaching the basque horn-pipes "alboka" (a kind of clarinet) and "gaita" or "dultzaina" (a sort of oboe).
His role in the survival of the almost extinct alboka is undoubted (see some opinions), and recognized by the last traditional players, having got a well established school of modern alboka players for whom the disk "Leonen Orroak", with the great accordionist Kepa Junkera has became the major reference. Together they organized the two festivals in honour of the last great traditional alboka players, Leon Bilbao (in Artea, 1996) and Txilibrin (in Bilbao, 1998).
His second alboka project has just appeared on May, 2004: Airea.
Now, he is working in a multimedia alboka method, when is job as a philosophy teacher at secondary school lets him time to do so.
(NEW!!) Interviews:
Articles:
Round table: "Mesa redonda (28-1-1998): La música tradicional en el Bilbao Metropolitano: Tendencias actuales", in Bidebarrieta: Anuario de Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales de Bilbao. III: 1998. Bilbao: Bidebarrieta Kulturgunea.
"La alboka. Clarinete doble, tradicional de Euskal Herria (País Vasco)", in Interfolk (1999:2).
"Alboka" in http://www.dantzak.com (2001)
Whole web site about alboka: http://alboka.net (2001)
"Digitació i Escala de l'Alboc", in La Porra (Revista de cullina popular i tradicional), (# 20, May 2002).
"Apuntes de filosofía del euskara, Euskalingua, (#2, May 2003), at http://www.mendebalde.com
Recording list:
Alboka & tambourin: "Argi-azkorrian", Elai-Alai Musika Taldea, Portugalete, May 1989.
Alboka:
Tomás San Miguel con Txalaparta: "Lezao", 1994.
Ibon Koteron-Kepa Junkera: "Leonen Orroak", 1996
Tomás San Miguel con Txalaparta: "Ten", 1998.
Berrogüetto: "Mar de Albokan", in Renovart Documentary, 1998. Published in "Galizia Euskadirekin-Galicia con Euskadi", 2003/04. Forthcoming as "Disco DeSolado", 2005.
Kepa Junkera: "Bilbao 00:00", 1998.
RUDOLSTADT-TFF 2001. (Loewnzahn/HeiDeck 2002).
Tejedor: "Llunáticos", 2003.
Kepa Junkera: "K", 2003.
Fran Lasuen: "Denborak", 2005.
Kepa Junkera: "Kalejira Al-buk", 1994.
Them for "Durango Irratia" Radio, 1995.
Hymn of Balmaseda Village in its VII centenary, in ÑKU. "Comedias y a lo loco", 1999.
"Julián Romano, 100 años", 1999.
Bilboko Konpartsak: "Aste nagusia 25 urte", (July 2002). (Playing alboka, gaita & txirula.)
Kepa Junkera & Bilboko Konpartsak: "Mari Jaia" (hymn of the village festivals), 1996.
"Orobil Borobil" song for the Araba Euskaraz festival at Oion, 2003.
