Welcome to ‘Irritruk’, which means ‘in exchange for smiles’.

There are two booths; you can go into either one. The booths are like photobooths that take your picture and develop it in just a few minutes. In this case, however, in exchange for your smile, you will receive a customised bertso.

A bertso is a song in Basque made up in the moment by improvised poets known as bertsolaris. They have different metres and tunes that are decided upon before the song is improved. Bertsolaris are also sometimes given a specific theme or topic about which to sing. 

But a bertso is much more than just a song that rhymes. It is an oral art form.

In these booths there are more than 500 bertsos. They were prepared by Bertsozale Elkartea, the Association of Friends of Bertso Singing.

The booths work as follows:

● First choose three images or themes.
To do that, just smile and look at the camera above the screen when an image or theme you like is shown.

● The ‘bertso machine’ will then create a unique bertso, just for you.

Look at the screen and follow the instructions. A camera will recognise your smile, create a bertso based on the image you choose and print it out straight away.

A QR code will appear on the screen. You can use it to download your bertso.
You can also share it on social media, if you want to.

Smile and Basque will reward you with a poem.