Listen to the legendary Juan Morales Ramos, known as "Moralito," sing the verse (diagrammed immediately below) found in his décima Allá en la Altura [Up in the hills] and follow the explanations of its structure at right--->

Literal translation of décima lyric above
From "Up in the Highlands" by Moralito

I use a fireplace for a stove
Which I stoke with kindling,
Since my house is small
I have no television.
In my narrow room
I live as well as a lawyer does.
Mister, I can hear on my tin roof
the sounds of pigeons.
and I live up on the hill
better off than a rich man.

How would a décima sound in English?
A Decima in English following all the rules of an Espinela
written for the Cuatro Project by the poet, Ina Cumpiano

Play me a décima, friend.
Play me a song from the island.
Play me the sea and the sand…
When cuatro and sunlight blend
I’m a sick man on the mend.
Where, in the tree branch, coquí
Sings his two notes in high C,
There´s where the sun’s a bright mango
And a plena more real than a tango,
Play, Borinqueño, for me.
 

What is the Pie Forzao?
by the folklorist José Gumersindo Torres

The Pie Forzado [obligated foot or ending]--jibaros would say, "Pie Forzao"--is the last line of each verse which the Improvisador is obliged to conclude each of the four ten-line verses he must make up on the spot during a singer's event. He must develop the theme indicated by the pie forzao in the first cuarteta or verse; then develop two intermediate cuartetas, each summarized by the same pie forzao and then conclude the theme in the final cuarteta, ending of course with the pie forzao.
     The following is a collection of traditional pie forzaos, any of which the improviser might expect to be given during a singing event. Note that they follow the rules of syllabification described above.

De Lo Frio A Lo Caliente
From being in the cold to being in the heat
De Lo Caliente A Lo Frio
From being in the heat to being in the cold
Entre La Gorda Y La Flaca
Between the fat one and the thin thin one
Con Preguntas Y Respuestas
With questions and answers
Busca La Contestacion
Search for the answer
Yo Soy La Ficha Del Tranque
I'm the domino that ends the game
Me Mando A Quitar El Nombre
I'm obliged to change my name
Improvisando Soy Diestro
My skill lies in improvisation
Yerba Que El Chivo No Masca
Grass that the goat refuses to chew
Hoy Cantando Lo Demuestro
And today I display this in song
No Es Tan Fiero El Leon
The lion is not so fierce
Como Lo Pinta La Gente
Its not as people paint it
Pero He Sido Tu Maestro
But I have been your master
Quiero Saber Quien Es Quien
I want to know who is who
No Le Tengo Miedo Al Bulto
I'm not afraid of the load
Por Mujeres No Se Llora
Don't cry over a woman
Llorar Por Una Mujer
Tears over a woman
Tu Bajas Cuando Yo Subo
You go down as I go up
Eres Yagrumo Y Yo Ausubo
You are Yagrumo and I Ausubo (two matched trees)
El Parlero Ruisenor
The garrulous nightingale
Debes Despertar De Un Sueno
You must awake from a dream
Aunque Seas Otro Espinel
Even if you were another Espinel
Roncas Mas De Lo Que Duermes
You snore more than sleep
El Pedir No Es Un Delito
To ask is not a crime
El Ateo Al Religioso
The atheist said to the religious man
La Bella Hembra Boricua
The beautiful Boricua female
Siguen Los Tiempos Cambiando
The times they are a-changin'
Muerte, Sangre Y Fuego
Death, blood and fire
El Plato De Noche Y Dia
The meal of night and day
Canta La Voz De Borinquen
The voice of Borinquen sings
Dile A Las Drogas Que No
Say no to drugs
Cultivando El Intelecto
Cultivating the intellect
Estoy Cantando Por El
I sing for Him
Cuando El Cuatro No Repique
When the cuatro goes silent
Sirva Otra Cantinero
Go serve another bartender
Va Cantando Una Quimbamba
He goes singing a Quimbamba
Yo Le Canto A La Mulata
I sing to the mulatto girl
Yo Prefiero La Caucasica
I prefer the white girl
Yo Le Canto A La Trigueña
I sing to the dark girl
Se Armo Otro Siquitraque
Another uproar has begun
La Cuenca Del Caribe
The Caribbean basin
A Sadám Y A Fidel Castro
To Sadaam and Fidel Castro
La Llave Del Verso
The key to the verse
Mientras Un Tiple Doliente
Meanwhile a Tiple Doliente
Eres Como El Algodon
You are like cotton
Mucho Bulto Poco Peso
A lot of mass but little weight
Un Cisne Con Tiernas Alas
A swan with tender wings
El Cantar De Los Turpiales
The song of the orioles
La Cuna De Los Patriotas
The cradle of the patriots
El Legendario Coqui
The legendary coquí
Con El Manto De La Noche
Under the cover of night
A Nuestra Mujer Boricua
To our Boricua woman
Nuestra Musica Folklorica
Our folkloric music
Lo Embellece Y Dignifica
It is beautified and dignified
Lo Que Mi Tierra Produce
That which is produced by my land
Donde Descansan Los Muertos
Where the dead lay
Herencia De Sus Ancestros
Inheritance of their ancestors
Un Trovador Espontaneo
A spontaneous troubadour
Desde El Arbol Del Suicidio
From the suicide tree
Y Ante El Padre Se Persigna
Before the priest he crosses himself
Cuando Nosotros No Estemos
When we are no longer here
Nuestra Patria Se Nos Muere
Our country is dying
La Carcel O El Cementerio
The jail or the cemetary
La Decima De Espinel
The décima of Espinel
Por Mas Que Salte El Grillo
However high the grasshopper jumps
Nunca Sera Maromero
He'll never be an trickster

Structure and rules of the Puerto Rican décima
according to Luis Morales "El Pico de Oro" and the folklorist José Gumersindo Torres
      While composing or improvising a Puerto Rican décima, the trovador must keep all the following rules in mind. Not a simple task while making it up on the spot!

1- Rhyme: The ten lines in the traditional décima must rhyme in the following pattern:
Following the example on the left:

2- Syllable counting: The number of syllables in each line must add up to 8. But what a syllable actually consists of and how the count is made is determined by a set of specific rules:

• When a verse or line ends in a word with its emphasized syllable being the one before the last, or penultumate (a palabra llana, or "level" word) then the total number of syllables in that line must add up to 8 (Note the second line of the example)

• When a verse or line ends in a word with its emphasized syllable being the last (a palabra aguda, or pointed word) then 1 is added to the total count. (Note the first line of the example)

• When the verse or line ends in a word with its emphasized syllable being the antepenultimate one (a palabra esdrújula, or taccented hird from the end) then 1 is subtracted from the total count.
  

• When there is a word in a verse that ends in a vowel, followed immediately by another word that begins with a vowel, the two adjacent syllables are counted as one (this is called a sinalefa or "elision")        

• When a "weak" vowel (i, u) is joined with a "strong" vowel (a, o, e) within a word and the emphasis falls on the weak vowel, an accent mark is placed over the weak vowel. This creates what is known as a "hiatus" for the purposes of syllabification, and the union is broken into two separately counted syllables.    

 
Origins of the Décima

Vicente Martínez de Espinel (1551? - 1624) Spanish poet, novelist and musician from Ronda, Andalucía, Spain, is recognized as the one who revived the ancient poetic form, known today as the espinela, because it was he who gave it its modern form.

So the Puerto Rican jíbaro singer/poet tradition can be traced back to Espinel, and to medieval Spanish and Moorish roots. A jíbaro traditional singer is expected to sing the many traditional forms both passionately as well as accurately. The décima, when sung in Puerto Rico, is invariably sung to the tune of a slow seis---the music which has been fused with the décima and which is traditionally played with a cuatro, guitar and güiro, or scratch gourd.

In some Spanish-speaking countries, décimas are written and recited; in others they are written, read, recited and sung. In yet others (such as Puerto Rico), the décima is written, recited, sung and during special events, improvised.

  Listen to Isidro Fernández 
improvising a décima on the spot: 

In response to the question, "don Isidro, complete this phrase: The décima is..." he responds:

"Pure thought and action
For the jíbaro it is culture
And the greatest geniune interest
It is now, as it is afterwards
What jibaros dream
And in this small island
That is my land and my nation
What emerges from my heart
Is the Puerto Rican décima" 

 The foundation for the melody and rhythm of Puerto Rican mountain music is the seis. But the foundation of the it's song lyrics is the poetry of the décima. A complete décima is composed of four stanzas (or cuartetas) of ten lines each (hence the term décima). Each line is composed of seven, eight, or nine syllables and rhyme with each other according to ancient and complex rules. 

Distinctive forms of the décima exist all over Latin America. The Puerto Rican décima descends from medieval Spanish ballads. The aguinaldo is the décimas smaller cousin, sometimes called decimilla. The singer of décimas and aguinaldos sings of love, of the human condition, of the beauty of the Puerto Rican countryside, of persons the singer wants to honor, of impressive events, and of holiday cheer.

Articles:
Origens of the Décima: at left
Examples of Décimas: see below
How to compose a Décima: find it here
How to perfect the décima: find it here
Different kinds of Décima artists: see below
What is a pie forzao? learn here
Troubadours answer questions about the Décima (in audio) in Spanish, here.
Other Décima resources, in English, here and here

What is the le-lo-lai?

Clearly, a kind of lyrical "scat" exclaimed by the traditional jíbaro singer,  "la-le-lo-lai" o "lai-le-lo-lai" o "ay-le-lo-lelo-le," heard between stanzas (cuartetas) of the sung décima, also exists among the ancient Spanish workers on the small farms of Castille, Murcia and Almería. And it may have even originated from an even older place, from the Moorish lands; because they actually sound like certain ancient sung exclamations of North Africa.

Listen to the great Ramito sing the LE-LO-LAI

by José Gumersindo Torres

The true-blue jíbaro that has his Island of Borinquen in his heart, expresses the fact in the native chant of the mountains, at the same time that he dresses our folklore in traditional dress and conserves the flame of the Puerto Rican song. He continues to sow the furrow with what our land produces, germinates and plants. En the Bacardi troubadour contests, sponsored by the Puerto Rican Institute of Culture, or in the Décima festivals, we can listen to pure-bred espinela composers creating their Indian-African-Spanish song, weaving their muse, their prose and their spirit together into a theme that concludes with the Pie Forzao.

There is a variety of them: there is el bardo (the bard), those who know the poetic décima scheme and may be able to improvise one or two lines, based on practice and experience without necessarily being a naturl improviser.

 On the other hand, there are singers that simply are rimadores (rhymers) of the décima. They can create verses with simple rhymes, but the verse itself is empty, incoherent and lacking of any message at all. They look for rhymes that fit easily such as (-ar / -cantar), (-or / -trovador) or (-ción/ -lechón) to elaborate sparse verses.

Then assuredly, there is el versador, the kind that can sing verses that are memorized or embotellados (bottled up), as the jibaros say it.

The essence of the great troubadour, the one who can connect his lines to round off a perfectly aligned verse, stands out in a crowded field. The improvisador is the one settles into his rhyme, and can continue rhyming, embellishing and expressing  a chain of verses with ease that comprise complete thoughts, images, similes and metaphors of his own original inspiration. In conversation with an adversary troubadour he can, in song inquire and respond in a lyrical way, in flowery language, without resorting to vulgarity and crassness. 

The first line rhymes
With the fourth and the fifth.
The second and third, with a different
Sound have been combined.
Six and seven and the last
Yet another rhyme.
The eighth creates the mood
Rhyming like the ninth.
That's how a good poet
Creates an excellent décima.

With a good vocabulary
And divine inspiration
Joining together with great passion
The flowers of the dictionary.
With the terms that daily
We use on each subject,
The stone becomes a gem
With metaphors and similes.
Using dissimilar forms
To create a poem.

When a llana word [explanation here]
Is at the end of the line,
The prosody is your universe.
Eight syllables match
The aguda word gains
One more syllable at the end
When seven is the sum.
And in an esdrújula rhyme, from nine
You remove a syllable
That's the grammatical rule.

The rules of the poem
Are applied by the poets
Exalting the values
Of the mountain song.
Many more things this singer
Would have to explain.
So I will leave that task
To the interested listener.
One thing I have demonstrated
Is that it's not easy to be a troubadour.

The traditional music of the jíbaro, or Puerto Rican country man, evolved from the music of the soldiers, farmers, artisans and enslaved Africans that settled on the island at the dawn of the seventeenth century. These ancient colonists hailed from the southern region of Spain, the provinces of Andalucía and Extremadura; from the Canary Islands; and from West Africa.
    From Spain they brought the traditional romances, song genres such as the Seguidillas and the Copla, and other traditional songs of ancient moorish descent. The Canary Islanders brought their diminutive timples and the Africans brought their memories of syncopated rythyms, drums and memories of their stringed instruments they made from gourds. Many eventually became established in the mountainous interior of the Island, and in those isolated hills their music developed a charming and unique character.     
    These became the first Puerto Ricans. From those same hills emerged our first cantaores, singers that remembered the traditional chants and sang them during festive occasions. Also those hills produced the first trovadores--poets who sang their poems. Their poetry was structured along the lines of the ancient Spanish décima: each line consisting of seven, eight or nine syllables--depending on complex rules.
    The music playing behind the singers was usually the seis. And each seis according to its region. Scores of different seises have been created all along the Island countryside. Among them the slowest, the seis mapeyé, the seis andino and the seis celinés ; and among the fastest, the seis chorreao and el seis zapateao. The music was produced by an ensemble consisting of a cuatro, a scratch gourd called a guiro, and a guitar or another native instrument such as a diminutive tiple or a large bordonúa--the last two instruments having all but disappeared from the scene. This ensemble was know as an orquesta jíbara, or jíbaro orchestra.  And this has been the basis of the Puerto Rican traditional instrumental folklore.

The Seis: "The backbone of Puerto Rican traditional music" is the music that the jíbaro once danced to, or listened to as the troubadour sang his unique décima poetry. Each region of the Island had its own distinctive collection of favorite melodies.
 The Décima: An ancient poetic genre largely makes up the lyrics of the Seis
La Decimilla: younger brother of the Décima, it is the basis of our Aguinaldo
Trovadores and Cantaores: The most celebrated singers of the musical poetry of the Puerto Rican hills