Manuel Lekuona Award

Juan Mari Beltran Argiñena (Donostia, 1947)

As a child, Juan Mari Beltran began his musical career as a clarinetist and txistulari in Etxarri Aranatz, and at the age of 16 he joined the group Argia - Euskal Dantzari Taldea in Donostia. As a teacher, he took his first steps at the Hernani Music School, teaching alboka, dulzaina, txalaparta, chambela and txistu.

In the 1960s, he began to collect materials on popular music in all formats and modalities. This particular collection would be the germ of Soinuenea – Herri Musika Txokoa, a documentation, promotion and meeting centre on traditional folklore that opened its doors in Oiartzun in 2002. A unique museum of its kind in the Basque Country and an important centre of activities, it houses instruments, scores, records, audiovisuals and recordings, together with a library specialising in ethnomusicology. Soinuenea is recognised as one of the most solid and long-lasting achievements in the field of cultural transmission.

For more than half a century, Juan Mari Beltran has been working on the recovery, safeguarding and transmission of musical heritage, both in its material and immaterial aspects. On the one hand, he has made it possible for traditional musical instruments that were in danger of disappearing to be recovered, updated and made known to new generations. On the other hand, he has rescued and disseminated compositions from the Basque popular repertoire, together with the analysis of their contexts and cultural uses.

In his research role, the Manuel Lekuona Prize 2024 winner has developed numerous studies on popular music and folklore in the Basque Country and internationally, thus contributing to the integration and global understanding of the different instrumental families in the European cultural environment. At the same time, he has been involved in building bridges between traditional and contemporary music. All this work has been reflected in dozens of publications, both bibliographical and discographic, as well as in musical performances, solo or in the company of groups, throughout the Basque Country.