| Published in : Interview Written by Lorea Arakistain on 2009-09-21 11:35 |
“If I were a normal, sensible girl, I would have studied engineering, be working in a co-operative, most likely be paying off a mortgage”
Ines is HUNGRY ["hungry" in Basque is "GOSE ", which is the name of the band Ines Osinaga plays in]. She is hungry for lots of things. And when she goes up onto the stage, she says "bon appetit" to everyone. Offstage, she does many other things. She has studied biology and teacher training at the UPV/EHU-University of the Basque Country, and now she's studying Biochemistry. Her friends tell her she does everything the wrong way round. "If I had given a thought to the future, to my country, I would have become an engineer, not a musician," she says.
Nearly ten years ago when you decided to study Biology, did you think about the future?
Yes, I did. But when you are twenty-eight you don't think the same as when you are eighteen. I was a good student and I wanted to go on to higher education. And I wanted to leave home. And I thought Bilbao was a really cool place. I decided where I wanted to study; and then I chose what I wanted to study; I had an excellent Biology teacher in the 6th form and got hooked. But if I had to choose now, I would most likely go for something more practical for the life I lead now: marketing, communications, business studies, economics or computing.
But you're studying biochemistry now, aren't you?
Biochemistry has always been my favourite branch of Biology. I've never liked what I call "big" biology: ecology, zoology, anthropology. I've always liked the tiny molecules, reactions and carbon-oxygen bonds. I decided to take the plunge, and I'm really happy.
 And teacher training in between.
The vocational side on the one hand, and the practical side on the other. While I was in the second year of Biology I was already teaching at the school of music and I felt it was something I owed my students. A bit of pedagogy, not just staves, crochets and quavers. I love teaching and I reckon that by the time I finish biochemistry and rock ‘n roll, I'll be going in for teaching; that's what I'd like to do. But as a teacher of science, not music.
You've been devoting more time to music, haven't you?
No doubt about that. I'm not a very professional student. My class mates have helped me a lot with documents.
Just doing music is risky, isn't it?
One band used to sing: "In the Basque Country you'll never make any money from Rock ‘n Roll" (Euskadin rock and rollak ez du inoiz dirurik emanen). It's true. In the Basque Country you won't get a penny from rock ‘n roll. If you have any money, it's better to fill the fridge and have a plateful of lentils... But you become accustomed to getting by on less, and it is possible. But no one said it was easy to be the black sheep of the family. I live in Arrasate (Mondragon); industry there is strong, there's a university -oriented towards specific aims. So if I were a normal, sensible girl in this town, I would have studied engineering, be working in a co-operative, most likely be paying off a mortgage and I might possibly be married, too. But that is not the way of life I've chosen.
Gosea (Hunger) is the feeling generated in animals by the need for food. And what about Gose?
It's the feeling generated in us by the need for something. We ought to learn to be hungry for many things. In this life the need for food moves us to struggle. Going out in search of more, going after other ideals -even if they are Utopian- or after certain values makes us develop or move forwards.
What are carbohydrates, lipids, proteins and nucleic acids for you?
They are the fuel, bricks and plans that we need to build ourselves. These are the things that really interest me. The world of living organisms is fascinating. There is no engineer who could invent such a perfect machine. It's incredible. I would recommend to anyone who is interested that he or she should go further into this world.
The previous generation achieved success by combining the "trikitia" (small diatonic accordion) with drums and guitar. You have done so by adding electronic music... does the "trikitia" no longer work as a solo instrument?
The "trikitia" still works. But here I haven't experienced festivities around country chapels in the way that a person from Azkoitia has. That may be why it's natural for me to use the "trikitia" in other contexts. In this country we get the "trikitia" out once a year; when we dress up as "vasquitos" [farmers and farmers' wives], eat "txistorra" [spicy Basque sausage], and drink cider; that is when we get the "trikitia" out. But in a very folkloric, exotic context. I used to play the "trikitia" and liked electronic music. I met Iñaki and he liked it too, and it was a natural thing. It isn't about combining styles, but about bringing together people and ways of thinking. That is enriching. We're not trying to save the "trikitia", or merge it or modernise it, or to break with tradition or anything like that. Nowadays we do everything on the computer, plus what we sing as well. It isn't such a strange thing. But it is for my mother, of course. But my mother is gobsmacked whenever she sees my brother log onto Tuenti and talk in front of a computer screen to his friends.
You yourself nearly gave up the "trikitia" and then you started teaching people to play it, didn't you?
We've all been through a time when we refused to conform. When I gave up the "trikitia" competitions, I started singing in Ekon and got involved in the world of distorted rock 'n roll guitars when I was 16 or 17, and I said "ya esta" [that's it]. I won't ever play the "trikitia" again as long as I live. But luckily it wasn't like that. It was just to break and be different. It's something you go through, like chicken pox. Why shouldn't I do it if I feel like it? And teaching is what has kept me in contact with it.
Are you a better student or a better teacher?
Teacher. I am no model student. I have skipped lectures more than I wanted or needed to. I've gone around begging for notes... even though it came out all right in the end. I prefer to teach. The role of the teacher is more interesting: connecting, communicating.
It isn't easy...
By and large, and with all due respect, there are two professions you really need a vocation for: teaching and medicine. You may not particularly like machines, but if you produce screws, OK. But if you have to work with people...If you don't really want to be a doctor, please don't become one. Be a plasterer or anything else. And the same with being a teacher. It's very easy to teach a good student, because he or she will learn of his or her own accord. The challenge is stimulate and arouse a bit of interest in the student we call a bad one, connect with him or her... it is a wonderful job. You get a lot out of it.
Ines is always linked to the word provocation. Is that your label?
That's right. That's all it is.
And the Gose band is also accompanied by the word sex. Is that the Gose band label?
Yes, it is. We don't talk about sex all the time. On the first disc one or two out of ten numbers would have been about sex. Three? OK. 30%. Whenever I'm with friends more than 30% of our conversations are about sex.
What attracts attention, what you say or how you say it?
How you say it. That's what my mother says: "When you talk about this, that and the other, dear, you give the impression that your ideas are very clear, but then it's not like that." I know mother... but I'm pretending!
The disc has been recorded. Does it have a name?
It won't have one. It'll be a colour. And round.
And the inside.
It'll have a third section. It'll go on being the same. We will try with the lyrics... mmm... perhaps, someone will get angry.
Do you have a role model? A scientist, a musician, a teacher.
Tricky question! We all have role models and we need them. But models change insofar as we ourselves change. My father has been a real role model for me, more than anyone else perhaps. I mentioned a teacher, Itziar was my Biology teacher in the 2nd year of the sixth form, because she influenced my life. At university, too, I've had very good teachers and very bad ones. And when I don't like them I complain a lot. If the teacher is good, I'm sitting at the table with pen poised before they enter the room waiting to see what they have to say. In science, Watson and Crick; now we can see the consequences of the things they did. Craig Venter is an unscrupulous scientist and entrepreneur; he has succeeded in taking advantage of things but he's not bad.
The most difficult area is music because there are so many. Someone locally, someone from the Basque Country, a "trikiti" player, someone from outside, one lurking behind the computer... I would say one of each. I wouldn't say just one!
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