EL ROCÍO : A CASE STUDY OF MUSIC AND RITUAL IN ANDALUCÍA : TOWARD A THEORY OF RITUAL SYSTEMS

Music is central to the processional pilgrimage of El Rocío, which attracts hundreds of thousands to Andalucía, Spain, each spring. El Rocío affords a unique view, in microcosm, of music and ritual relationships from both ritual studies and ethnomusicological perspectives. Based on extensive participatory field work and historical research, Dr. Poole explores the nexus of ritual, music, and culture within the Andalusian Catholic ritual system. The analysis also addresses the roles of the Andalusian musical forms, the role of flamenco, and the specific music of El Rocío: the sevillanas rocieras. His analysis also yields surprising realizations about how El Rocío's most salient characteristics- ritual behaviors, musical practices, and emotional content- engender embodied aesthetics within a communitas that in turn serve to generate popular culture. In the final chapter, Dr. Poole advances a theory of ritual systems within an evolutionary framework that has important implications well beyond the field of ritual studies.