Mapping the Saeta in Cáceres: Heritage Informatics for a Living Religious-Musical Tradition

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.65408/cird525742

Keywords:

Saeta, Religious Cultural Heritage, Heritage Informatics, Digital Mapping, Flamenco, Cáceres

Abstract

Presents the project for the digital documentation, modelling, mapping, and educational valorization of the saeta in Cáceres, Spain. The saeta is examined as a living devotional chant performed during Holy Week, situated at the intersection of ancient religious chant, local Cáceres tradition, and flamenco heritage. Drawing on ethnographic interviews, historical press sources, musicological research, previous mapping initiatives, and a digitized corpus of eleven recordings, the study develops a low-cost, open, and extensible uMap prototype for representing intangible musical heritage. Mapping is conceptualized as knowledge organization, linking places, processional routes, ritual moments, performers, lyrics, recordings, performance contexts, and educational resources. Exploratory computer-assisted pitch analysis indicates that stylistic variation involves ornamentation as well as tonal centres, melodic range, cadential patterns, and text declamation. The study demonstrates how an open web map can integrate archival, interpretive, educational, and community-oriented functions in documenting living musical heritage.

Author Biographies

  • Carmen Rodríguez Márquez, University of Extremadura

    Carmen Rodríguez Márquez is a doctoral researcher in the Interuniversity Doctoral Programme in Heritage at the University of Extremadura, Spain. Her research focuses on music education, flamenco heritage, and the anthropology of music in Cáceres. Her master’s research examined the history and anthropology of flamenco and the saeta tradition in the region, exploring their applications in music education, museology, and cultural tourism. Her methodology combines historical documentation, local press sources, interviews, and field observation. She investigates the transmission of the saeta cacereña and its relationship to local cultural memory, documenting singers, musical associations, performance venues, and related practices. Her work also explores cultural mapping as a way to interpret and communicate musical heritage. In the present study, she contributes historical and ethnographic evidence to developing a digital information model for the saeta.

  • Martín Gómez-Ullate García de León, University of Extremadura

    Martín Gómez-Ullate García de León is a lecturer and researcher in the Department of Didactics of Musical, Plastic and Corporal Expression at the University of Extremadura, Spain. His work brings together cultural anthropology, music education, and intangible cultural heritage. He has researched the history and anthropology of music in Cáceres and explored cultural mapping to document and interpret local musical traditions. He co-authored a chapter on mapping the city’s musical history for educational, tourism, and museological applications. His research combines ethnographic methods and geospatial tools to examine the relationships between place, memory, and musical practice. He also investigates how digital technologies can support the documentation and communication of living musical traditions. In the present project, he collaborates with Carmen Rodríguez Márquez to develop a model of the saeta as religious and musical heritage.

References

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18th-century Bishop’s Chapel, Archibishopric of Lucca. Photo by: Olimpia Niglio, October 2026

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Published

2026-11-08

Issue

Vol. 13 No. 4 (2026): Religious Cultural Heritage: Diagnostics, Documentation and Valorization

Section

Articles

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Copyright (c) 2026 Carmen Rodríguez Márquez, Martín Gómez-Ullate García de León

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