Havana, Cuba.- After three days of academic exchanges, concerts, traditional “guateques” (Cuban rural parties), and tributes, the first edition of the Ibero-American Congress of Decima and Improvised Verse winds up in Havana on Friday.

Dedicated to poet Jesús Orta Ruíz, better known as El Indio Naborí, on his 100th anniversary of his birth, repentistas (folk music improvisers), writers, and researchers from Mexico, Chile, Spain, and Argentina, among others, participated in the Congress.

The event was also an opportunity to talk about the renewal of Decima (impromptu country music), which is guaranteed thanks to the projects and workshops to promote the traditions among the new generations.

Alex Diaz, leader of the Oralitura Habana project, stated that the heirs of poetic improvisation exhibit a solid work due to the boom of the young improvisers’ movement, while expressing the importance of the event as a point of convergence for creators of different ages and styles.

Under the slogan “Ven con tu décima mía,” the Congress also recalled “punto cubano” (Cuban country music), which was declared a UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity five years ago, and repentismo (folk music improvisation), declared a national heritage ten years ago.