La Decima -- a Puerto Rican Poetry Contest

At the first People's Poetry Gathering in 1999, sponsored by City Lore and Poets House, a concert of "la décima" was held at Cooper Union. The concert featured artists from Mexico. Colombia, and Puerto Rico singing décima verses in the manner of those countries. This clip features the Puerto Rican style of décima, with Puerto Rican poet Victor Hernández Cruz as the emcee. Décima is a verse form of ten lines consisting of eight syllables each which originated in Spain in the 1500s but has spread throughout Latin America. At this point in the concert , the audience was asked to give a sentence which would be the last line that the singers would have to use in the verses which were made up on the spot. Singers in Puerto Rico who improvise décima verses are called trovadores. Here the line--which is called a "pie forzado"--was "La voz de la libertad." Noted cuatro player Yomo Toro accompanies the trovadores who are from Puerto Rico, New York, and Connecticut. The include Angel Nieves, Eddie Rosa, Hiram Martínez, and Arturo Santiago Jr.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• décima
• Puerto Rican music
• trovadores
• Arturo Santiago Jr.
• Yomo Toro
• Eddie Rosa
• Hiram Martínez
• Angel Nieves
• Victor Hernández Cruz
• City Lore