The municipalities that make up the European Network of Holy Week and Easter Celebrations preserve an immense cultural and artistic heritage, among which we can highlight music. In acts and processions, music is always present as an inseparable element of the celebrations, providing emotion and feeling. Without a doubt, we cannot imagine the Holy Week celebrations without the presence of this musical accompaniment. Sones typical of each celebration interpreted by instrumentalists, bands, groups and choirs that meet every year on the festivities of this tradition.

The music of Holy Week is complex in its interpretation and presents innumerable variations and styles. Likewise, this type of musical accompaniment has evolved and has received the incorporation of new compositions with adaptations in their style overtime. If we refer to the Holy Week rituals, this living heritage is constantly evolving. The incorporation of the repertoire is something continuous, always in coexistence with specific traditional melodies and with works by great composers who have been incorporated into the regular repertoire of these celebrations until almost identifying with them.

The new compositions that are added tend to respect the classical canons, but there are also new trends that allow an innovative reading of these melodies, both with new readings and with innovative proposals in their arrangement and interpretation.

A sound heritage that, due to its richness and interest, also seeks out new settings, thus allowing this rich musical legacy to be transferred and brought closer to the general public. New bets that, respecting its original function, allow us to offer new ways to share this legacy.

This is the case of Javier Cecilia, who has developed the show ‘Aires de Pasión’, a contemporary cultural creation proposal that allows one to experience and communicate the music of Holy Week. It combines traditional band music covered on piano, accompanied by songs by ‘Saetas’, by the hand of the singer Evaristo Cuevas. It is a show that was presented in Osuna (Seville) in February 2020 and that has been represented, since then, in various Andalusian towns with more than thirty performances and with continuous innovations. This has made it a live show and in continuous transformation where the author is introducing his own creations in the field of brotherhood music that allow him to develop new experiences in this line.