The Jota of Callosa d'en Sarrià: Living Tradition and Dialogue with Jazz

The Jota of Callosa d'en Sarrià: Living Tradition and Dialogue with Jazz

Abstract

This project, The Jota of Callosa d’en Sarrià: Living Tradition and Dialogue with Jazz, explores how a living folk tradition can be reimagined through Global Jazz while preserving its emotional and cultural identity. It is based on Les Danses de Sant Jaume, a communal celebration from my hometown in Spain, and reflects on how music, dance, and shared memory shape cultural identity and continuity. The research combines my personal experience within this tradition with historical sources and archival material, together with my studies in jazz composition at the Berklee Global Jazz Institute. The project does not aim to replicate the tradition, but to draw from it as a living source of musical, rhythmic, and cultural material. This material is then reinterpreted and transformed into four original compositions, each emerging from specific elements of Les Danses and reimagined from a contemporary perspective. Musically, melodic and rhythmic material is extracted directly from the tradition and developed through improvisation, harmonic expansion, textural transformation, and BGJI concepts. Overall, the project presents tradition as something alive and evolving, shaped by people and participation. It reflects on how artistic practice can create a dialogue between heritage and contemporary creation, turning memory into musical expression.

Publication Date

7-1-2026

Campus

Boston Campus

Keywords

Spain; Folklore; Global Jazz; Dance; Danses de Sant Jaume.

The Jota of Callosa d'en Sarrià: Living Tradition and Dialogue with Jazz

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