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What was "The Round Table"?
The Cuatro Project revives a lost tradition                          


A recreation of a Mesa Redonda [Round Table] carried out by the Puerto Rican Cuatro Project on February 2005 for
the video documentary "La Décima Borinqueña" .  From Left to Right: Modesto Nieves, cuatro; Ricardo Abril,
poet, Ricardo Villanueva, poet, Ramón Vázquez, guitar; Gilberto Ortiz, guiro; Isidro Fernández, poet; Tony Rivera, poet.

Listen to Isidro Fernández and the musicians of the Round Table improvising a décima verse about
Cervantes with the obligatory last line: "Born four centuries ago", Cuatro siglos de nacido. 
A direct (not poetic) translation of his improvised verse follows:
Cervantes the writer,
Said, "I will raise my pen,
And for the world I shall sing,
Writing what is best,
From the valiant struggler,
The greatest who ever lived,
That temperate man,
Asking for no revenge,
That man from La Mancha, was
Born four centuries ago.

Rules and history of the Puerto Rican décima tradition HERE


The region in Puerto Rico that includes Naguabo, Ceiba, Fajardo and Río Grande, harbors a historic tradition--one that is not well known within the history of the Puerto Rican décima. Certain distinguished singer-poets (trovadores) and poet-improvisers--some whose professional apogee occurred during the decade of the 1940s--kept alive for many years the tradition they called La Mesa Redonda, or Round Table

According to don Joaquín Mouliert, these singer-poets and pioneer composers gathered together during weekends in different locations to share their skills in composing the décima poetic form. These illustrious artists, with names such as Pedro Ríos, Jesús Díaz, Perfecto Álvarez, among others, had the custom of meeting around a round table (if one was available) and took turns improvising the poetic form or reciting décimas, usually with literary or historic themes.

Every week, each one of the trovadores selected a theme around which every other table member had to improvise around, always holding to the rigid and demanding structure of the décima, a form originally codified by the 17th century Spanish poet Vicente Espinel (a hence, the form was also known as the Espinela). The form consists of four verses each composed of ten octo-syllabic lines, each following a strict rhyme pattern, and each ending with the same obligatory line, called the pie forzado or "forced foot." The theme was usually one derived from the books that the poets read--or had read to them--such as the Bible, the History of France, the Odyssey, Don Quixote, The Count of Montecristo, etc. These verses were always composed on the spot--improvised on demand--representing a remarkable feat of mental agility and artistry.

Usually accompanied by a guitar (there were not many available cuatristas in the region during that particular period in time) each one of the poets had to improvise or compose the décimas based on his knowledge of the selected theme, which was always a surprise. The poets decided amongst themselves who would choose the theme for that gathering, which was known only when he began to sing the first verses of the day.

After all the participants completed their improvised verses, the next poet around the table would sing the first verses at the next meeting, in other words, would choose the theme for the next Round Table. Since the spirit was a competitive one, he would always try to come up with a particularly obscure or difficult theme to make it harder for the others to follow him.
                                                                                                                                                                               Notes by David Morales