Present and future of the Song of the Passion in Orihuela

The Song of the Passion is said to be so omnipresent in the life of Orihuela that some crier has gone so far as to say in his gloss that every Oriolano is born, lives and dies listening to this popular song. Declared an Asset of Intangible Cultural Interest in 2019, it has been chanted in an organized way since at least the second quarter of the 19th century, although its origins go back a long time. Today the custodians and guardians of such a high score are the Passion Singers and the Primitiva Pasión Federico Rogel, established respectively in 1927 and 1953.

This Holy Thursday, the deep voices will sing again for the death of Christ through the darkened streets during the Procession of Silence and they will not do so again until next year. Before, last week, their departures were daily and they reached all types of streets, houses and convents. One of their stops was in the Plaza de Europa. There the Passion Singers gave a gift and sang, as is tradition, for the new covered knight, Antonio Martínez-Canales.

A private and brotherly meal in which its nearly 40 voices, arranged by tone, also rehearsed with the pleasure of knowing they were enriched by new blood. This year there are two newcomers who join this vocal and vocational family.

Under the presidency of Isidro Hernández and the baton of the tuning fork of Jesús Abad is Pedro Larrosa, one of those new additions. “I started rehearsing with them in January,” he tells LA VERDAD. «I was already participating in a theater that is about the Passion and, in one of the rehearsals, they came and I was very surprised. Over the years I have been listening to them and last year I said that I would like to enter.

The casting, he shares, was not complicated. «You really have to know something about singing. “You have to know how to at least set the tone.” Now Larrosa occupies the position of everyone who enters, one that carries important responsibility. «We call him the custodian. He is the one who is in charge of guarding the lantern that is placed in the center of the circle and that represents all the deceased brothers,” explains the secretary of the group, Fran Giménez. “It is also a way to test the responsibility and commitment of those who enter.”

The nerves of the premiere

With the light in tow, Larrosa remembers, much calmer, his recent premiere. «He was very nervous. He had a dry mouth. But I still felt comfortable because my teammates supported me and later congratulated me.”

One of those who are in charge of instructing newcomers in this centuries-old custom and also breaking the ice in a group that transmits great seriousness wherever it performs is the oldest singer. Víctor Riquelme joined 47 years ago.

Riquelme says that then this select group of chosen ones had nothing to do with what it is now. “Before, it was very difficult to access because it was passed almost from parents to children.” His case was different. «I was lucky that one of the bass strings happened to conduct. Then there was a gap and they told him that he had a bass voice. At that time we were only 16 people.

The secret of staying so many years is none other than having a deep love for Holy Week. “The important thing is that you like it, that you feel it and that you feel like going out late at night and going to work the next day.” And, within that, she explains, camaraderie is what helps that passion not falter – excuse the redundancy – for this heritage so deeply rooted in the very essence of Orihuela. «A brotherhood has been created. We feel that we are bearers of a tradition that we have to maintain.

Rate Bas, Honorary Singer

One of the people who has contributed to the dissemination and preservation of the Passion Song is the illustrator and photographer Rate Bas. Named Honorary Singer, he receives a tribute today in the Cathedral from his godfather, the bishop, José Ignacio Munilla.