23 Mar THIS IS WHAT MONCAYO SOUNDS LIKE A project to recover, preserve, and share the musical heritage of Alcalá de Moncayo.
What does a village sound like?
Most of the time, the first things we notice about a village are its architecture, its streets, or its people. Yet we rarely stop to listen to its sounds.
One day we decided to sit down and listen to the sounds of Alcalá de Moncayo: women leading the traditional aurora chants, sticks clashing in the dance ritual, music filling the streets, and people enjoying it together. All of these elements are also part of the village’s identity.
But how can we capture and transform those sounds in order to tell the story of a place? That is how “This Is What Moncayo Sounds Like” was born—a project promoted by the local association Tintineo Cultural, formed by three young women committed to their roots, their territory, and its culture.
Objectives and values of the project
The project aims to collect and document the traditional sounds of the village, particularly the auroras, with the goal of promoting the preservation and dissemination of this cultural heritage.
Auroras are traditional folk songs, both religious and secular, that used to be sung in everyday life—while people worked in the fields, in the church, or during festivities to praise the patron saint. Today in Alcalá only one of them remains actively performed: the Aurora of San Sebastián, in honor of the village’s patron saint. It is sung at 6:00 a.m. during the main August festivities.
These songs were traditionally passed down orally from one generation to the next. Today they are at risk of disappearing, as some of them have never been written down and survive only in the memories of the village’s older residents.
Through this initiative, we want to highlight the value of this heritage and pass it on to younger generations. In doing so, the project seeks not only to recover our music but also to strengthen emotional bonds and the sense of community among all the residents of the village.
Activities and outcomes: a workshop, a songbook, and a musical trail
To recover these cultural elements, an initial phase of research and documentation has been carried out. This included collecting texts, articles, and books that already address the musical heritage of the Moncayo region, such as “La Tradición Oral en el Moncayo” (1999) by Luis Miguel Bajén and Mario Gros.
Of vital importance have been the voices of Gloria and Milagros, two local residents who keep the singing tradition alive and who remember performing these songs since childhood. The willingness and support of the Alcalá Town Council have also been essential.
The next step will be a workshop on March 28 at the Municipal Library of Alcalá de Moncayo. During this session, participants will work together to share and reconstruct the municipality’s cultural history, comparing memories of what used to be sung in the past with what is still performed today. The goal is to recover fragments we once thought lost and to document this legacy through the transcription of song lyrics, traditional texts, and anecdotes. By bringing these pieces together, we hope to reintegrate this disappearing heritage into our collective identity.
All this effort of listening and shared memory will take shape in a songbook that will gather the lyrics and the transcribed music of the auroras of Alcalá de Moncayo. Our intention is for this work to become part of the local archive, ensuring that future generations will have a place to rediscover and enjoy the popular culture that defines us.
But the project will not remain only within the pages of a book—it will also move into the streets and become part of the everyday landscape. We will install a series of plaques with fragments of the lyrics throughout the village, creating a permanent visual and musical trail. This will give continuity to the project and help both residents and visitors become aware of the valuable heritage hidden in our streets and corners.
Come and discover what Alcalá de Moncayo sounds like!
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