since 1984. In 1994, the album Lezao is released featuring txalaparta to critical acclaim. Two further txalaparta related albums have been released since, Ten (1996) and (2005), so wrapping up the trilogy. In this latest album, the swinging duo , i.e. young twin sisters Maika and Sara Gomez, has taken over the sticks from . : In 2003, the 8-people group releases an album under the same name. They feature a txalaparta made of wood and marble blended with various African (Mali, Senegal...) percussion instruments, songs and influences, such as djembes, kenkenis, sanbaghs. Felipe and Imanol Ugarte: After taking up txalaparta at the beginning of the 90s, Felipe trains brother Imanol and in no time they start playing in the streets and festivals. They are renowned for their performances at the Donostia Boulevard in summer, they have toured several times all over the world and have edited a couple of albums under their own label. The brothers also perform live regularly with the group Crystal Fighters. ("Balance Tx(alaparta)"): Igor Otxoa and Harkaitz Martinez de San Vicente team up late in the 90s out of other couples and join the Kepa Junkera band in his concerts and album releases, mostly playing along with accordions and other folk instruments of the ensemble. They feature a txalaparta tuned along the notes of a score (melody) and made of exotic wood. After a period of rest, under the patronage of Kepa Junkera they draw up the album Quercus Endorphina (2000) with the contribution of many celebrated folk musicians, e.g. Phil Cunningham. Then, they engage in a more independent project, taking to travel to various countries (India, Finland...) trying to blend txalaparta with other instruments and cultures, with a view to highlighting diversity and mutual comprehension among the peoples of the world. The result of the experience, the documentary Nomadak TX (2006), proved an outright success, earning them numerous awards in Film Festivals around the world. Discussion and prospects It has been a general assumption that txalaparta evolved out of a simple binary pattern. Yet in an interview to Juan Mari Beltran, a pundit on the issue that did major field work and has afterwards elaborated on the topic, he holds that s (three-strike sets), even fours, were occasionally played by the last old txalaparta performers. Notwithstanding this comment, it may be contended that they were not ternary or four-strike patterns, but isolated ready-made beat