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Show ' i t . i t I i 1 j 3 ! ' 8 I V IiDaBSdpil IbalOsQalleeii sSirags sHneepuniieniis pnan by Carl Hayden Special to The Tribune FAR BETTER it is to have cheese and bread under a bridge in friendship with strangers than to banquet in a palace with wary guests. Louis Michel Irigaray thought about that advice from his witty, father, Michel Irigaray, a Basque from Esterncubi (on the French side of the Pyrenees Mountains) so much that it revolutionized his life. I used to follow the sheep to wherever the grass was, he says. Now I go to where the people graze." For Louis has a message and a purpose. The pur- pose is to raise the Ameri- to his can sheepherder rightful place in history. TOO LONG he has gone AT NINE Louis was carrying water and lunches to sheepherders, and the oral challenge to one who might dawdle was: Its all right to take your time, as long as you Louie, hurry. The family band of 4,500 sheep was sold a year and a half ago so that Louis might take to the lights. Coached by his mother, who died at 39. Louis unrecognized for his empire-buildin- g efforts, shaded by the glory of the cattleman. Sheep and cattle came to the frontier West simultaneously, but the cowboy, mounted and dressy, was glamorous while the dusty sheepman trudged. Dime novels started a trend that carried through Wild West shows and Western motion pictures to modern television. Proper recognition must be secured now, Louis thinks, because the sheep industry is declining. Later there may not be enough public interest to sustain reconsideration. Its like his ever-- , philosophical father said, Unsada dembora hartziu bainr.ernatu. lish. Some he sings in his native language, interpreting musically in English. More of my albums, he has been startled to find, sell to persons who do not understand Basque than to those who do. Idaho has given the tousled-haireBasque a reception as fond as a ewes for her newborn lamb. To date, 60 percent of his records have gone to Gem Staters. THE IRIGARAY family has long been known in Utah livestock circles. For decades it sold all of its lamb crop to the late Reed Sessions, a legendary Ogden ewe buyer. Replacement lambs were regularly obtained at Spanish Fork. Buck" Olsen there supplied Hampshire and Suffolk rams. And Senor Irigaray, the elder, left a few homilies there, like: A sheep is a d green chopper with a fertilizer attachment behind. Louis, who strums a guitar well but prefers to leave that to his faithful aide, John Branstetter, (who opportunely showed up from nowhere at Virginia City, Nev.) has been the singing guest of the Hoovers at bal-lade- d four-legge- people graze, says the e sheepherder. one-tim- learned to sing in isolated, mountain camps with bedding sheep for his audience, and the setting sun his spot- ter. NOW IIE IS on the entertainment trail Reno, Las Vegas, Jackpot, Elko, Ely, Boise exhorting the sheepman in ballad to be acclaimed. Louis writes his songs Bosco Sheep Man, for instance in Basque or Eng Lehi. OF HIS LIMITS the is aware, thanks in part to the caution instilled in childhood by his father: "Louie, I can jump higher than this house. bal-lade- Oh, no you can t. Nobody MAM ' Whereupon, the father jumped four or five inches. Son: Seel You didnt do it. True, but the house cant jump. LOUIS DESCRIBES as the Beverly Hillbilly country of France and Spain. It has sent singers to America, but no Basque vocalists have gone from here to there. Louis will be the first to do that this fall. Paul Laxalt, immediate past governor of Nevada and now president of the company that owns the new, plush Ormsby House in Carson City, asked the Basque balladeer over from Reno for an overnight appearance, then held him so the weeks ran into long months it was almost embarrassing. OTHER ENTERTAINERS began to look at me as a stage without prop Est-emeu- bi The Salt Lake casters." What the back-country-muscl- Louis looks forward to is the showing of a motion picture in which he will star to his Old Country kin. It is being produced from a book written by Robert Laxalt brother of who has long been Paul associated with the University of Nevada Press. Recounting importation of Basques to tend the Northwests millions oi woollies, the volume is, oh, so appropriately entitled, Sweet Promised Lhnd. Sunday, August 19, 1973 Though a linger, Louia retain love of outdoor. 3 |