Anne Etchegoyen is a French/Basque singer and songwriter. She was born in 1980 in Saint-Palais (in Basque Donapaleu) in the Northern Basque Country, Aquitaine. At the age of eight Etchegoyen joined a local choir in Saint-Palais Soon thereafter she would study in the musical school of Bayonne.
Etchegoyen sings in Basque, French, Spanish and Gascon. She has released four albums, including two solo, and two in collaboration with the Basque Men’s Choir Aizkoa. Her popularity greatly increased throughout France after appearing and singing with various other groups in the 6-episode Le Chœur du Village. The series was broadcast on France 3 in April 2013.
She was already known for singing 3 times the French national anthem La Marseillaise, in 2003 for the World Championship in Athletics In Paris, in 2009 for the Basketball World Cup and in 2010 during a Rugby Union Test match between France and Argentina.
Etchegoyen’s latest album, Les Voix Basques (“The Basque Voices”), has been awarded gold record in France after selling more than 60,000 copies. Anne’s latest CD, Otentik, was released in 2005. Otentik is mainly made up of Basque songs with a few in French and Castilian, the three languages of Euskal Herria. The Basque songs are a mixture of contemporary ones and traditional ones with a classical arrangement, accompanied by acoustic instruments, which are primarily the piano, guitar and violin. A couple of the tracks were recorded with the all male chorus of Adiskideak and were recorded in the church in the Basque coastal village of Bidarte (Lapurdi). In December of 2006 Anne recorded a few tracks on a Basque Christmas CD with the all male chorus of Aizkoa.
Etchegoyen has gone on a world tour performing in several countries, including Argentins, the United States, England, Ireland and Spain. Currently she is on the Basque eta Paz tour, to spread her idea of peace for the Basque Country.
