Hermeneutics of AI in Seville’s Processional Music: towards a MIDI Protocol for the Symbolic and Technical Preservation of Tradition
Abstract
This article proposes a working framework to valorize processional music in the face of the algorithmic standardization typical of AI-generated music. To mitigate data- and tool-driven biases that homogenize styles—and with the aim of protecting and classifying Andalusian processional music—we introduce a MIDI model that functions as a protocol for storing and categorizing elements absent from the score but essential to this music’s uniqueness. The goal is not technical display but the preservation of the symbolic-performative dimension through an auditable, traceable, and interoperable control notation. Under this model, AI systems can interpret and catalog processional music in its full essence, annotating intentionality (gesture, agogics, timbral color, ritual function), respecting its distinctive cultural identity beyond dominant musical currents, and securing its inscription within the global musical ecosystem.
KEYWORDS: processional music, artificial intelligence, algorithmic standardization, MIDI protocol, music model.
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