Décima_and_internet

Décima and the Internet: oral literature on the digital stage Philip Pasmanick

1,075 words

The décima (or décima espinela), a 400 year old pan-hispanic tradition, is the most vigorous and widespread of Spanish language oral literature forms. Décima is a primarily improvisational and competitive performance, delivered to a musical accompaniment in a strict and challenging metric scheme. Décima began as an erudite literary form during Spain’s “Golden Age” of literature, but was soon embraced by the masses and spread to the Americas with the conquest. Décima, therefore, has always existed on two tracks: the oral tradition (often referred to in Spanish as “popular” or “vernacular”) and the written tradition of Cervantes and Rubén Darío, often called “literario” or “culto” (to the fury of the populares). In fact the line between the written and oral décimas is blurred; written “literary” décimas are often recited, while some apparently improvised verses are in fact written by the poet, memorized, and then sung. While oral décima was long an isolated phenomenon often limited to rural communities, disdained by the “cultured” poets and the universities and rarely present on mass media (except in Cuba) since about 1990 the art form has experienced a modest revival. One result has been a series of international décima festivals, typically with an academic symposium attached. Poets and researchers who had long labored in isolation suddenly came in contact with their comrades (and therefore, rivals) from a dozen countries. As many poets have said, ironically or not, a form of globalization has reached this venerable art. Given these four conditions (the parallel existence of written and oral forms, the improvisational imperative, the intercontinental scope, and university presence, with all its resources), it is not surprising that décima has made itself at home on the Internet. Many excellent research papers are available on-line, as well as anthologies and recordings, professional and amateur, of which more later. But the real innovation is that décima is not only discussed or reproduced on the net, it is practiced under conditions that in important ways emulate and honor the spirit of the oral tradition. I have found numerous “controversias” (one-on-one décima duels) particularly in discussion groups, such as Google group soc.culture.puerto-rico and alt.spanish.usage. This sort of heated public exchange on a contemporary topic of real interest to the participants is very close to the spirit of an improvised décima debate, and there are examples going back to 1996 at least. These “controversias” are entirely spontaneous and represent a genuine pleasure in the process for its own sake; they are not self-conscious exercises in folklore.

Another venue that honors the oral tradition is the web site dedicated to interactive décima exchanges, such as the long-running El Palacio de mis Versos forum. This site is now in an uncomfortably clunky interface that discourages long threads on a single topic; the old site offers a better example, although it is no longer very active: http://books.dreambook.com/elpalaciodemisversos/trovos.html I have seen many of these sites come and go; sometimes they just disappear without warning, destroying thousands of lines of poetry, unwittingly emulating another feature of improvised verse: its evanescence. Next, there are interactive poetry sites that feature décima; several are listed on my blog. There are even English controversias in poetry pages; an artificial exercise, but décima works perfectly well in English and I recommend these sites especially to non-Spanish speakers. Finally there are occasional episodes that create something even more consonant with the décima performance tradition in that they are public, interactive and in real time. The best of these encounters were initiated by a décima organization in Cuba (www.miforo.cult.cu) but are no longer accessible. A session announced for December 2006 was postponed for technical reasons. In an unprecedented experiment, Alexis Díaz Pimienta and I modified one of our realtime digital “controversias” and performed it on stage at the Tapia festival in 2007. Apart from these public venues, I know of many private e-mail exchanges, personal and collective décima blogs, décima chain letters, and so on. These manifestations are too far removed from the characteristics of the oral tradition to really count as such, although they certainly support the art form. They could be compared to the tradition of the very cheap décima handbills once common in the Cuban countryside and elsewhere; this practice survives in Brazil, where it is known as “literatura de cordel” [I call the digital version “literatura cordElectrónica”]. Video is another platform for décima on the Internet. Since the summer of 2007, “Tenderete”, a television program from Spain’s Canary Islands has been posting professionally produced décima performances on YouTube. Several of my décima videos can be found there as well, along with dozens of random décima performances, from drunken barbecues in Argentina to strolling minstrels on a Brazilian beach. My contributions to the on-line décima phenomenon include a bilingual blog: http://www.deciman.blogspot.com/

It features a collection of my videos (mostly on Google Video) showing authentic décima performances in festivals set in Spain, Cuba and Mexico. The introductory film is called “Repentistas” and can be viewed as a 15 minute movie, or chapter by chapter. There is a short introductory text and a complete side-by-side transcription/translation .pdf document with performance notes that can be read as the video runs. Those who require an English version may prefer to start with my bilingual performances. My blog also contains anthologies, scholarly articles, photographs, and selected links of all sorts, including everything useful I could find (or write) in English. Material related to my specialties (décima in the Spanish-language classroom and the role of décima in the afrocuban rumba tradition) is also on offer. For those interested in oral literature, I submit that this site is as good a place to start as any to learn about décima and related styles as they are practiced today. The Internet offers much more than a convenient, dynamic way to share information, opinion and recordings relating to oral literature. In its own peculiar way it has become a digital stage where, in the tradition of their ancestors, poetry enthusiasts can cross swords of verse with their their brothers and sisters around the world. Philip Pasmanick [email protected] Created on April 2, 2007 last edited August 26, 2007