Agoteak - Agoteak (Agoteak/A-Lone Productions)

The name Agoteak refers simultaneously to this seven-piece band led by bassist Lander ‘Ilarraz’ Ilarraz and vocalist Iker ‘Beñaranks’ Beñaran, their debut album, and their label. It is also the Basque term for the marginalized outcasts known as Cagots in southwest France and Agotes in northern Spain.

There is no definitive explanation for why these people were excluded from society, though the most common theory is that they were believed to be descendants of lepers. Forced to live in isolated settlements far outside the villages, they were barred from inns and shops, forbidden from touching food in the markets or drawing water from the village well. Similar to the way Jews were often forced to wear the Star of David, the Agotes had to stitch a Y-shaped duck-foot symbol onto their clothing; a symbol Agoteak incorporated into their band logo as a tribute.

Agotes were restricted to a handful of professions considered inferior, such as carpentry or stonemasonry. Ironically, the artisanal work they were once forced into out of necessity is now recognized as genuine art and cultural heritage. One of the best-known contemporary Agote artists is Xabier Santxotena, founder of the Santxotena Park-Museum in Arizkun (Navarra). Agoteak used an image of one of his iconic wood sculptures for the back cover of this album.

The track list of this showcase-style release offers four vocal cuts and four dubs. It won’t be everyone’s reference point, but lead vocalist Iker Beñaran’s timbre immediately brought to mind Catalan reggae band Txilum.

Opener ‘Aldarri’, which translates from Basque as “battle cry”, is a call to resist an unjust economic system and to build a fairer world through solidarity. “Etsaia” (“the enemy”) addresses the hostile imagery projected onto migrants and the xenophobia that follows in its wake. Only “Mr Jackson”, a critique of power figures who abuse their position, features a few fragments of English.

As the band themselves put it: “From Jamaica to the Basque Country, cultural resistance through music!”