It is inevitable to dialogue with Lorenzo Suárez Crespo without mentioning the tenth at some point in the conversation. The name and acting of that renowned Pinareño poet are intrinsically related to the so -called “national stanza”, not only for cultivating it with good taste but also for the research and cultural promotion work deployed.
Lorenzo likes to tell how important the tenth was in the home of his childhood, in the municipality of Bahía Honda. There, every day, he listened to the 10 octosyllable verses to his mother Canarian, while performing the chores of the house.
Of a prole of six children, he would be the only one to continue the tradition. And paradoxically, it was in Cárdenas, Matanzas, already far from the family environment, where he would start his professional path as decimistic.
“I worked there for 15 years as a basic high school teacher and literary advisor. I met very important poets, including Carilda Oliver Labra. I also belonged to the literary workshops, it was then that I had my first impressions to decide to write tenths. From there began a work that has not finished until today with the tenth, both oral and written.”
From the many investigations he has carried out, What concept do you defend the tenth?
“I am going to tell you in tenth, precisely: the tenth is a beautiful, / tender and dear flower, / that is rooted in life / of the good improviser.
What particularities does the tenth history have in Pinar del Río?
“As for what is its cultural form and phenomenon, it is not far from the rest of the country. He arrived with the canaries. There are points of contact that are incredible. For example, while the cucalambé, there in the cornito, the tunas, sings in a process of wonderful creation to the fauna, to the flora and the whole spiritual thing that moves the peasant, that also happens here, in Pinar del Río, through the river Songs back downa book that summarizes the fauna, the flora, the existential of the Vueltabajero peasant. Both events occurred in the mid -nineteenth century.
“But yes, there are always differences. And one of them is that in Pinar del Río the free point is created within what is the Cuban point.”
What exponents should we not forget to rebuild that story?
“The beginnings, with the wise calm poet Sandalio de Noda, with Francisca González Ruz de Montoro and with Celestino García. They are the three pillars of the nineteenth century that transcend the entire century and that give us that tenth that lasts until today. Then, in the twentie that cannot be forgotten.
“While Pablo León, Agobio Hernández and other great poets are first, then comes a new poetry forge in the tenth with Leandro Camargo Pérez, Juan Antonio Díaz, Adriel Ceballos, Juanito Rodríguez, Ana Baby Rodríguez Cabrera … Some of them are currently abroad, but their links and their cultural identity with the tenth are still present in Cuba.”
How do you value the tenth that the youngest do today?
“Well, it is a tenth that requires a very important study. When a bridge is already established between the Cucalambé, the Indian and the younger poets, then the tenth charges a greater dimension. It is a tenth new, a tenth enriched with a very current anthropology, without leaving behind the Creole. International frameworks ”.
The oral tenth for the work of the sudden poets is better known; However, in Pinar del Río there are also many poets that are dedicated to the tenth written, in a more literary sense. What is the opinion of that phenomenon?
“Very important. There are no borders between an orality and a writing. We have in Pinar del Río, for example, a poet such as Alberto Peraza, who has published books; we have Nieves Rodríguez, from San Juan, with wonderful books, and we have an Adriel Ceballos, who really is a poet that transcends therefore, by an orality, in which literature, the decimistic work is of an extraordinary quality.
“It should also be noted that the sudden poets do not stay in the tenth, in them, there are also sonnets, there is romance, that is, they are poets that transcend the 10 octosyllable verses and reach higher categories, therefore, enrich a term called poetry.”
Are you satisfied with the way we are keeping that tradition and instilling in the new generations?
“Well, I believe that work is being done in different ways, in different places and in different institutions; I think that the keyword would then articulate: that it is not the tenth and the Cuban point starts from a territorial strategy, but of a national strategy, and that this strategy worships him and that he is consistent with the declaration of UNESCO as an immaterial cultural heritage of humanity. The big challenge is to join, so that we all put our granite of sand and let us leave our granite. farms ”.
Lorenzo Suárez holds the José Vasconcelos International Prize, in recognition of the work of his entire life dedicated to the tenth. Fruit of their research work, several poetic compilations have been published, including, Tenth and Orality in Pinar del Río, Anthology of the tenth of Pinar del Río y Sonnets, mararas and other songs to the Viñales Valley. In addition, he has developed a wide work of cultural promotion from the house of Tenth Celestino García and the Amauta Cultural Center.
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