Participants of the "Justo Vega 2023" with the improviser child David Miguel Cardosa

The décima is in the air, flies among the bamboo leaves that shelter El Cornito and even seems to perch on the chest, or the hat of the participants in the Justo Vega national contest for improvisers, those who sing from the most varied creations.

Las Tunas, Cuba.- The expected moment has arrived, we are going to know the winners… But, aren't they all in a certain way? Sergio Reyes Santos, from Artemisa, winner of the contest, climbs on the podium; while Yordan Quintero Fuentes, from Villa Clara, wins the Popularity Award. They receive trophies beautifully created by brothers Sacramento and Orlando Acebo. A luxury jury congrats them: Luis Paz (Papillo), Sindi Manuel Torres, and Manuel Mariano Piñero. The applause rains. The décima, as an observant girl, smiles at them.

Conversing with poets is always one of the greatest pleasures because they are beings that seem unreal until we have them in front of us and, if they are improvisers, ayayay! You have to walk quickly when it comes to questions because when it comes to playing chess with Cronos, they are disciples of Capablanca. One, two, three, let's talk...

Sergio Reyes Santos, Justo Vega Award 2023.

TOGETHER WITH SOULED BOYS UNDER THE LIGHT OF EL CORNITO

Quickly, I realize that the eight-syllable verse has stuck to me; it's not my fault, it's up in the air. I am surrounded by ten competitors from various provinces of the country: Havana, Matanzas, Pinar del Río, Mayabeque, Villa Clara, Artemisa, and Holguín. All have received collateral awards in honor of talent from different institutions in the province. I am also accompanied by a boy named David Miguel Cardosa Corbacho, who follows his father's footsteps around the "peninsular traveler."

There are all kinds, more serious, more talkative, young, and a little experienced. But they are good people, because more than contenders, I see a group of brothers.

Noel Sánchez García, from Matanzas, is one of the youngest. He carries on his shoulders the pride and responsibility that his father, Noel Sánchez Acosta, was the winner of the first edition of the Justo Vega contest. He tells me that his grandparents also cultivated the spinel and that he wants to build his own story in tune with modern times. "Although I still have many themes to explore within the décima and improvisation doesn't always come out the way you want, I always try to do my best," he said with brilliant eyes.

His compatriot, Yoelvis Delgado, affirms that the national stanza is complex, that "it has many requirements and the verses must go as they are." He narrates that the octosyllabic inheritance came to him from his grandfather Máximo Santos, a country gentleman who improvised and that -although he has already passed away- "I carry with pride in my soul.” However, he began to improvise after he was three decades old and, due to things in life, the universe took a turn on "the mound of sighs" since he went from baseball to poetry. Today, at 49 years of age, they call him "The baseball player who sings."

Rolando Olmo Vázquez, from Güines, Mayabeque, has attended the Cucalambeana Fiesta on other occasions. He affirms that "sharing with poets from different provinces is something great and inexplicable; an experience that we live to the fullest, something beautiful." And when I ask him what would he say to Juan Cristóbal Nápoles Fajardo (El Cucalambé), if he were in front of him, he replies: "I want to be like you."

From the other end of this Cayman Island, comes Ricardo Cardosa Castillo, from Holguin, who has participated several times in the Supreme Festival of the Cuban Peasantry. About his experience in the event, she says: "The Cucalambeana Fiesta is of great importance because it defends heritage. This is an area that has been the cradle of traditions, the peasant décima has her nest in Las Tunas. Here, El Cucalambé made its history. That is why we are proud to come to El Cornito, where the greatest bard of the Cuban 19th century lived.”

Félix Castellano Izquierdo, from Havana, attends this event for the third time. He confesses how happy he is when he sees the young people who are starting in this beautiful "pure air prison" and he quickly shares some verses with me. "You are precious tenth-verse stanza / similar to a woman / because you have the pleasure of a butterfly. / The time that harasses you the most / have you like a coat / but I, being a witness / of your imperial dreams / between verses and rose bushes / I I'm going to stay with you."

Eduard Rodríguez Álvarez, from Havana, who participated for the second time in the revelry, highlights the relevance of joining the improvisation contest that bears the name of Justo Vega. "When you talk about him, you have to say drive, talent, rise to the challenge." Having said this, he gets excited to improvise: "Justo Vega was a singer/ of peasant images,/ who entangled his love through the hills/ of the tenth-verse stanza./ His dreamer lineage/ walks in a healthy way,/ sings again in Havana / and every thirteenth of January/ the Knight/ of the Cuban Tenth-verse Stanza is remembered."

Raciel Rodríguez Cruz, from Pinar del Río, joins the party for the first time. He is so moved that poetry immediately springs forth: "Here I am at the event/ mentioned by Justo Vega/ to see how the ship of thought navigates./ I feel the sea of language/ that there is no drought here/ because that just that there was/ of good crew/ asked the pantheon for a chance/ to see the singing.”

Sergio Reyes Santos, from Artemisa, the winner of the "Justo Vega" 2023, came for the second time to this festival of traditions to "enjoy the fraternity of all the improvisers in Cuba, because this is the cradle of the décima, where it is strengthened and grows from each musical contour, be it from a changüí, from a nengón (typical dance), as well as from each of the danceable and musical expressions, with colloquiums and other initiatives.”

The latter, also an interpreter of traditional Mexican music, does not miss the opportunity to dedicate a few verses to El Cucalambé on his birthday... "When I arrived in Las Tunas/ I tired every retina/ and in ten jícaras Rufina/ served me the best coffee. / Your soul, Cucalambé/ left me a gorged dream/ and as if opening a graphite/ the 194/ cañabravas of the theater/ El Cornito lives from your soul.”

Likewise, Onel Zamora Tejeda ("The Traveler Poet"), who has participated in the event on several occasions, expressed: "It is an honor to be here. I belong to the cast of the Palmas y Cañas TV program, which has been broadcasted from this site. There are other beautiful places such as the Casa de Naborí, the Casa Raúl Rondón, and more; but what poet does not want to visit the El Cucalambé estate.”

In other words, he said: "We are in a place/ where memories grow/ and poets seem/ lightning flashes past./ Here one comes to dream,/ here they have me standing,/ here I drink a coffee/ in the peasant cup / similar to the one that Rufina / made to El Cucalambé.”

Yordan Quintero Fuentes, who won the Popularity Award this year, and climbed to the top of the podium in 2005, closed this dialogue with the rhapsodists participating in one of the most transcendental battles of the Cucalambeana Fiesta. "This contest is very important because we meet poets from all over the country and test our knowledge. Although it is not difficult for us to improvise, sometimes our nerves betray us. Our life is poetry."

Yordan Quintero Fuentes, Justo Vega Contest Popularity Award.

Noel Sánchez García.

Yoelvis Delgado.

Rolando Olmo Vázquez.

Ricardo Cardosa Castillo.

Félix Castellanos Izquierdo.

Eduard Rodríguez Álvarez.

Raciel Rodríguez Cruz.

Onel Zamora Tejeda.