page_title: Bertsolaritza
section_title: The Txapelketa Nagusia
hierarchical_section_title: Bertsolaritza / Bertsolaritza in the community and competitions / The Txapelketa Nagusia
caption_attribution_description: Euskara: Andoni Egaña, bertsolaria, 2009ko Bertsolari Txapelketa Nagusian.
context_page_description: Bertsolaritza or bertsolarism is the art of singing extemporaneously composed songs in Basque according to various melodies and rhyming patterns. Bertsos can be composed at a variety of occasions but are performed generally by one or various bertsolaris onstage in an event arranged for the purpose or as a sideshow, in homage ceremonies, in benefit lunches and suppers, with friends or at a competition. Such a sung piece of composition is called a bertso, the person who sings it is called a bertsolari and the art of composing bertsos is called bertsolaritza in
  Basque. Traditionally these were sung by men but there is an increasing number of young female bertsolaris today.
  Usually the Basque terms are used in Spanish and French but the Spanish terms versolarismo and bertsolarismo and the French terms bertsularisme, bertsolarisme and versification are also used.
context_section_description: Above the provincial level, there is the Euskal Herriko Bertsolari Txapelketa Nagusia or "Great Bertsolari Championship of the Basque Country." This has been held (with considerable gaps due to the Second World War and the Spanish Civil War) since 1935 and involves local and regional heats prior to the finale.
caption: Andoni Egaña won the Bertsolari Txapelketa Nagusia four times in a row.
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