Repentistas Video: Intro

REPENTISTAS: INTRODUCCION A LA IMPROVISACION Notes for a video by Philip Pasmanick

v. 2.0

01-13-07

570 words

The most vital and and exciting form of Spanish oral literature still extant today must be the improvised musical poetic showdown often called trovo (ie, the art of the troubador) or repentismo, in which two rivals face off and attempt to outdo the other in a public display of ingenuity, vocabulary and metrical perfection. While musical styles, rhyme schemes, and details of technical execution vary widely from region to region, the international standard for improvisers is the décima espinela, which dates from the seventeenth century, the days of Spain’s Golden Age of Literature, when Lope de Vega and Cervantes produced exquisite examples of the verse for their dramatic works. Décima, whose metrical structure (10 eight syllable lines, rhyme scheme abba.accddc), combines the elegantly formal cadence of the sonnet with the catchy, mocking tone of the limerick, was soon appropriated by the masses, who set the form to music and carried it with them during the colonization of the Americas. While now practically unknown in some countries, décima performance is an everyday occurrence in Cuba, Puerto Rico, Panama, and Venezuela, and is popular to a lesser extent in Spain itself, Argentina, Chile, Columbia, certain regions of Mexico, and other countries, including Brazil. Decima improvisers are most often of campesino background and have little formal education, and perhaps for this reason oral décima was long ignored by most academic institutions. However, since about 1990 scholars and enthusiasts have begun to promote the study and practice of décima and have organized international festivals and symposia to document and celebrate the astonishing diversity of this deeply rooted expression of rural popular culture. As a result of these efforts a body of research and a number of books and recordings are emerging. More significantly, schools are springing up in many countries to ensure that a new generation has the skills to carry on this pan-hispanic tradition. It is also significant that the artists themselves are interacting with their peers; many performers have stated that they had believed for years that décima existed only in their own country or region. There is palpable delight as performers from different traditions match wits with rivals using unfamiliar instruments and melodies to sing their décimas, and audiences for these events are large and enthusiastic. It is clear that décima performance is experiencing an international revival. One peculiar result of the décima renaissance on the world stage has been the growing presence of the art form on the Internet. Décimas can be found on amateur videos, blogs, and dedicated web sites. Décima “controversias” appear from time to time in usenet groups, where amateur bards debate a topic of interest or simply poke fun at each other in a “publlic” forum; this can be seen emulate the traditional practice. In 2005, Cuban décima promotors even organized a Internet free-for-all in which a dozen poets from all over traded verses in real time. For a taste of décima performance, the reader is cordially invited to enjoy the following examples, videotaped in Spain’s premier décima festival in 2003 and 2004. A transcript and side-by-side translations as well as explanatory notes are available for the clips. For more on décima, including more video, texts, anthologies, festival narratives, links, and written Internet décima duels in Spanish and English, please see my web page: http://www.deciman.blogspot.com