Nadau

Nadau is an Occitan band that sings in Occitan, the local language, since 1973. Originally from Tarbes, the group has become a symbol of the struggle for recognition Occitan language and culture.

Many have followed Nadua’s example and started singing in Occitan. Nadau also played an important role in the creation and development of the Calandreta (Occitan school) and is now well known all over France.

Themes range from protest songs to traditional tunes, to songs of love and children. They have also been able to recover the sound of some instruments that were lost over time, and mix them with the electric guitar.

Their most important song is The immortèla or any of the L'immortèla, composed in 1978 and which has become a sort of folk anthem for the Bearn and d ' Aquitaine.

Traditional Songs of the Bigorre (with Donkeys)

Brothers Bernard and Miqueu Bastien, Bigourdan (from the Bigorre region, Pyrenees, France) singers, interpret two songs for two traditional songs from the region. Standing in the mountain pasture, they are accompanied by their donkeys (animals that are very sensitive to these harmonious vibrations).

1 song in Gascon:
"De la plus charmanta anesqueta"
(Shepherd Song)

2 old French song:
"Hélas que je suis à mon aise"
(Song of the Napoleonic campaign)

A Tribute to the Super Lujo!

Yes, I love my Super Lujo's and Txapelduns too, but to go as far as these two guys went....

Bascos Capogiro

Capogiro is a designer hatshop from Florence (Firenze), Italy. Among the many different hats Capogiro makes, there are numerous berets, or bascos, with their own twist.

 Basco with spray-paint

 Grey beret casquette with leather covered peak

Red beret casquette with metal band

Pink wool basco with buccle

DIESEL Berets

Diesel S.p.A. is an Italian clothing company. It sells high-priced denim jeans and other clothing and accessories aimed at a young adult market. The company is owned by its founder Renzo Rosso, and is based in the former Laverda building area in Breganze, northern Italy

The company was founded in 1978 by Renzo Rosso and his mentor Adriano Goldschmied. Rosso has said that he learned marketing from the US, creativity from Italy, and systems from Germany. Turnover was over €1.3 billion in 2009.

The stores's merchandise is presented in a confusing way in order to force customers to interact with the sales staff. 

And yes, berets (in casquette version) obviously do well with the hip and trendy young Italians. 

The Carlists Red Berets

The red beret was worn as a distinguishing device by Carlist soldiers in the second Carlist War and later became an emblem of Carlists in general, often with a red or yellow pom pom or tassel (making them excellent targets in the man-to-man warfare).

Carlists (the ultra catholic and conservative right wing defenders of Carlos V) and Cristinos (defenders of Isabella II, called “Cristinos” in reference to Isabella’s mother’s name Maria Cristina) divided Spain. The Basque Country backed Carlos V. The United Kingdom, Portugal, and France helped the Cristinos.

During the Second Carlist War (1846 -1849) French txapelgorris, or “red hats”, entered the Basque Country to aid Cristinos in the area. Cristinos started wearing red berets; however, the red berets became a Carlist symbol when Zumalacárregui, Basque Carlist general and one of his most important figures, was seen and portrayed with this type of beret.

In Spain, the red beret is also seen as an emblem of the extreme right when worn in the Carlist manner, but to make it more confusing, it is also the typical headgear during the many Spanish fiestas (and carries no political significance there).

Pictured a variety of Carlist berets, made by both La Encartada and Boinas Elósegui.

Re-enactment of the Spanish Civil War

Historical re-enactment is an educational or entertainment activity in which people follow a plan to recreate aspects of a historical event or period. This may be as narrow as a specific moment from a battle, such as the battle for Belchite, or as broad as an entire period, such as the Spanish Civil War.

And when the Spanish Civil War is concerned, there are many berets, of course.

At the beginning of the conflict, the Republican (Government) forces were a ragtag band full of inconsistent uniforms and black and navy-blue berets were omnipresent. Later, when the army got itself organized, both berets and forage caps were used, while the beret became a symbol of pride for the members of the International Brigades. 

Role Models

Jaco Pastorius

John Francis Anthony Pastorius III (1951 – 1987), better known as Jaco Pastorius, was an influential American jazz musician, composer and electric bass player. He is best known for his work with Weather Report from 1976 to 1981, as well as work with artists including Joni Mitchell and his own solo projects.

His playing was known for its highly technical, latin-influenced 16th-note funk, lyrical soloing on fretless bass and innovative use of harmonics. He was inducted into the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame in 1988, one of only seven bassists so honoured (and the only electric bass guitarist).

Pastorius started out following in the footsteps of his father Jack, playing the drums, until he injured his wrist playing football at age 13. The damage to his wrist was severe enough to warrant corrective surgery and ultimately inhibited his ability to play drums. At the time, he had been playing with a local band, Las Olas Brass. When the band's bass player, David Neubauer, decided to quit the band, Pastorius bought an electric bass guitar from a local pawn shop for $15.00 USD and began to learn to play with drummer Rich Franks, becoming the bassist for the band.

In 1975, Pastorius was introduced to Blood, Sweat & Tears drummer Bobby Colomby, who had been asked by Columbia Records to find "new talent" for their jazz division. Pastorius' first album, produced by Colomby, was Jaco Pastorius (1976), a breakthrough album for the electric bass. Many consider this the finest bass album ever recorded.

Pastorius was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in late 1982 following the Word of Mouth tour of Japan, in which his erratic behaviour became an increasing source of concern for his band members.

Pastorius was hospitalized for multiple facial fractures and injuries to his right eye and left arm after an altercation with a nightclub bouncer and fell into a coma. Initial encouraging signs that he would come out of the coma and recover faded as a massive brain haemorrhage a few days later led to brain death. Pastorius died on September 21, 1987.

Dr. John's Berets

Malcolm John "Mac" Rebennack Jr., better known by the stage name Dr. John (also Dr. John Creaux), is an American singer/songwriter, pianist and guitarist whose music combines blues, boogie woogie and rock and roll.

After his professional music career began in New Orleans in 1950s, Dr John concentrated on guitar as his primary instrument, gigged with regional bands and scored his first hit with instrumental Storm Warning. However, his playing career came to an end when his left ring finger was injured by a gunshot during a fight. After the injury, Dr John took up bass guitar, before making the piano his primary instrument.

By the late 1960s, he went on to become a session musician for the likes of Sonny and Cher and Canned Heat amongst others. It was his own solo career, beginning in 1968 with his debut album Gris Gris, that gained him the attention he deserved. The album, combining voodoo rhythms and chants with the New Orleans music tradition, was an instant success and Rolling Stone Magazine have since ranked it in their top 500 albums of all time. Along with Gris-Gris, Dr. John is perhaps best known for his recordings during 1972-1974. 1972's Dr. John's Gumbo, covering several New Orleans R&B classics, is considered a cornerstone in New Orleans music.

Since his heyday, Dr John has continued to write and record for various artists and movies soundtracks and in 2008 he was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame.

Emile Delobre

While not as well-known as some of his contemporaries, EmileVictor Auguste Delobre has risen in stature among the names of the French Impressionist movement over the last two decades. Delobre was born in Paris in 1873 and the facts of his life speak of a young man whose enchantment with art began at an early age.

At age 14 Emile was already enrolled in the Ecole des Arts Decoratifs and by 17 he was studying at the revered École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, instructed and inspired by the visionary Gustave Moreau, among others. His fellow classmates included Matisse, Marquet, Roualt, Dufy, and Manguin.

While at Beaux-Arts, and later at Paris Salons where he chose to exhibit, he won numerous prizes and was met with great acclaim. And while already an "an accomplished painter," Delobre was "discovered" by Nathan Wildenstein at the Louvre, copying a picture with his accustomed skill and accuracy. Legend has it that Wildenstein was so impressed that, then and there, he asked Delobre to come work for him and Delobre worked at Wildenstein's gallery as a consultant-restorer until he retired at age 72.

Edgar Degas

Edgar Degas (1834 - 1917), born Hilaire-Germain is known for his painting, sculpture, printmaking and drawing. He is regarded as one of the founders of Impressionism, although he rejected the term, and preferred to be called a realist.

 Edgar Degas, Young man with velvet beret, copy after Rembrandt 

A superb draughtsman, Degas is especially identified with the subject of the dance, and over half his works depict dancers. These display his mastery in the depiction of movement, as do his racecourse subjects and female nudes.

 Rembrandt van Rijn, Young man with velvet beret, etching, 1637

His portraits are considered to be among the finest in the history of art.

Aldo Luongo

Aldo Luongo was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1941, of Italian heritage. Since as far back as he can remember, Luongo had two great passions: art and soccer. Shortly after his graduation from the Academy of Fine Arts in Buenos Aires in the early 1960s, Luongo came to the U.S. to play professional soccer for the New York Cosmos. After his athletic career was cut short due to an injury, he arrived in New York City with a dream to pursue his artwork full time.

In the early 70’s, he had his first major success with multiple reproductions of his black & white drawings. Not only were these prints released to great critical acclaim, they were a huge commercial success as well (hundreds of thousands of pieces sold within several years). Aldo had put himself on the map as a major international artist.

Aldo Luongo has continued his reign at the top of the contemporary art world for almost four decades – a distinction that puts him in a class of his own. He has received numerous awards and honors, including being named a 3-time official Olympic Artist (Summer 1988, Summer 1996, and Winter 2002); an official World Cup Artist (1998); an official U.S. Women’s World Cup Artist (1999); and the 1999 Sports Artist of the Year (U.S. Sports Museum.)

From his acrylics to his fine art prints, all of Aldo Luongo’s pieces embody the same sense of fluidity and intensity, the result of a true artist engaged in the passionate process of creation. His bold, impressionistic style has often been referred to as “Romance on Canvas”. Central to all of Luongo's paintings is the balance between memory and hope, sorrow and humor, freedom and control. These dynamics are clearly apparent in his figurative works, especially those portraying "The Hawk", an archetypal character based on the memory of his father and the discovery of his future self. Aldo Luongo's artwork captures more than just the viewers gaze… it echoes the experiences of life lived to the fullest.

Enrique Ochoa

Self portrait with boina

Enrique Ochoa (1891-1978) was a versatile Spanish artist and humanist. His work and his life is a whole back to the Renaissance.

Ochoa was called “el pintor de la música” (the music painter).

Municipal Museo of El Puerto El último amor

With more than 2000 illustrations published in books and the magazines of the time, helped shape the image of a whole generation of writers in the first quarter of the twentieth century.

Municipal Museo of El Puerto Hombre con boina roja

He illustrated the complete works of Rubén Darío and was known for his portraits of women.

His restlessness and creativity led him to investigate and herald new trends, travelling the world together with his partner Osés Carmen Hidalgountil her death in 1961.