Decima Traditions
PUERTO RICO
POETS: Victor Hernandez Cruz, Angel Nìeves, Eddie Rosa, Hiram Martínez, Arturo Santiago, Jr.
LEAD MUSICIAN: Yomo Toro
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Nick Doob
CANARY ISLANDS
POET: José Yeray Rodríguez Quintana
MUSICIANS: Decimanía de Puerto Rico, Inc., Conjunto Típico Samaritano
MEXICO
MUSICIAN: Sinuhé Padilla Isunza
To watch the full documentary, In the Moment: Poetry Duels and Improvisations click here.
Table of Contents
The Tradition
Speaking at the People’s Poetry Gathering in New York City, 1999, acclaimed poet Victor Hernandez Cruz introduces a group of Puerto Rican decima improvisers this way. “There’s a Spanish poet named Vicente Espinel, who in the 1500s developed the 10-line decima system. It’s actually 8-syllables, each line going across and it’s the 10-lines going down, so as the singers are thinking of counting the syllables of going across, they’re thinking also of the 10-lines that are going down. And at the same time they’re dealing with the theme and they’re inventing it on the spot and creating and bringing up the words so they fall right in time.”
The decima rhyme scheme is ABBAACCDDC. With its origins in African and European literary and oral poetry, the form is prevalent throughout Spain and Latin America, and is frequently employed by singers improvising the lyrics and competing formally or informally for prizes or bragging rights. Different countries including Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico sing decimas to different melodies. For instance, in Puerto Rico the melody is a slow seis played a with a cuatro, guitar, and güiro (scratch gourd).
Field Notes
In 1999, City Lore and Poets House staged the first People’s Poetry Gathering in New York City. In planning the event, folklorists Roberta Singer and Elena Martínez on our staff introduced us to Eddie Rosa, a decima singer and improviser, who hosted Decima contests as part of Christmas festivities in Puerto Rico, and as occasional street festivals in New York City. He organized the wonderful Puerto Rican decima contest for the Gathering, and our staff arranged for the master cuatro player Yomo Toro to play.
The Gathering also brought decima musicians from state of Veracruz, Mexico, where the tradition is also prevalent. For our documentary film, In the Moment, we also invited the Mexican musicologist, producer, composer, and artistic director, Sinuhé Padilla-Isunza to be interviewed. Padilá-Isunza, who has performed in Spain, Mexico, the United States, and throughout Central and South America, talked about the connections between diverse decima traditions. He also has worked as a teaching artist for City Lore, where he runs an informal weekly fandango, or gathering, of Son Jarocho musicians.
In 2016, Latea Theater at the Clemente on New York’s Lower East Side hosted a special concert bringing together decimeros from both the Canary Islands and Puerto Rico. We filmed the concert for our documentary, In the Moment, featuring master troubadour José Yeray Rodríguez Quintana singing about the marvelous reunión of the two decima traditions of Puerto Rico and the Canary Islands.
Transcript
People’s Poetry Gathering, Cooper Union, N.Y.C., 1999
VICTOR HERNANDEZ CRUZ
Puerto Rican Poet: Victor Hernandez Cruz
There’s a Spanish poet named Vicente Espanel, who in the 1500s developed the 10-line decima system. It’s actually 8-syllables in each line going across and it’s the 10-lines going down, so as they’re thinking of counting the syllables of going across, they’re thinking also of the 10-lines that are going down. And at the same time they’re dealing with the theme and they’re inventing it on the spot and creating and bringing up the words so they fall right in time.
ARTURO
I don’t know if somebody has a pied forzado.
AUDIENCE MDEMBER
Si.
DECIMA SINGER
I think I heard something, como?
AUDIENCE MEMBER
La voz de la libertad.
DECIMA SINGER
La voz de la libertad, the voice of liberty, beautiful.
POET AND SINGER, ANGEL NIE’VES
I want you to hear my story,
I want you to hear my story,
I will always defend my territory with my fist right where I stand
A brilliant beacon across this land.
A brilliant beacon across this land,
That shines so brilliantly, therefore with dignity,
That’s why I say in rhyme,
resounding right on time
The voice of liberty because I want to be free,
The voice of liberty. Arturo.
ARTURO SANTIAGO SR.
In ponce there was born a child,
In Ponce there was born a child,
Who grew up to launch a cry,
That cry became a dream,
He worked tirelessly it seems,
From his faith he never turned,
To eternity he returned.
He died before the [Independence] struggle’s won,
And his work is not yet done
From Albizu’s voice so proud,
the voice of liberty.
From Albizu’s voice so proud.
La voz de la libertad.
SINUHÉ PADIA-ISUNZA
You can see it all around the world, how these roots they meld with the communities. You can see the different flavors because the poetry, some of them are more baroque, some of them are more abstract some of them are more – like in Mexico there’s not too much fight. When they get together, wins [is] not if you humiliate the other one, but if you make the beautiful one. Some of the countries they are bam! bam! till the other is on the floor. It’s also you have to be a genius. Whatever way is more cultural – in the Caribbean, Puerto Rico, and Cuba – it’s similar to the way they sing it in the Canary Islands.
CANARY ISLANDS
DECIMA
Canary Islanders Poet and Singer: José Yeray Rodríguez Quintana
Cinematographer: Charles Krezell
CANARY ISLANDS MAN
All of the countries
All of the countries
Our visions exist in different branches
But the roots the same.
Our communities are happy
And they never will forget this date
In between us all.
Us Puerto Ricans and Canarios
We have fought to meet here
Puerto Ricans and Canarios
SINUHE’
We share the identity and that makes a stronger identity even. In the end, we are sharing the rice and beans in different cultures.
My mother was a spark
And my father cruel lightning
My mother was a spark
And my father cruel lightning
Piercing the dark
And sometimes frightening
But when I see beautiful flowers
After the thunder and the rain
I know that with the days and hours
They will turn green again
From spark and lightning I began
And now they tell me who I am
From spark and lightning I began
And now they tell me who I am
