Décima

The décima in all Latin America and in Spain is a style of poetry that is octosyllabic and has 10 lines to the stanza. The rhyming scheme is ABBAACCDDC. It is spoken, sung and written throughout Latin America with variations in different countries. It is often improvised. Each country has its own melody and tone ("tonada") and a different instrument, but the style and structure is exactly the same. A person who writes or improvises décima is known as a decimista or decimero.