Oral traditions have always depended on one generation passing them to the next.

Our grandparents taught our parents.

Our parents taught us.

Trova has the face of women, of youth.

Trova is alive, and we will keep it that way.

I started in trova when I was around four years old.

My father taught trova in some neighborhoods of Hatillo, and since he had to look after me while teaching, he took me along.

And without meaning to, I took the classes with the other kids, until, when I was four years old, I told him I wanted to sing.

He wrote two stanzas for me, two décimas, and I sang for the first time in my town at four years old.

Puerto Rican trova is the seed that falls on the mountains of Puerto Rico and opens doors to other dimensions of what folklore is.

In the creation of "seises" and "aguinaldos," dance is also included, along with other traditional styles.

Trova had a huge role in the development of Puerto Rican folklore.

helped her give birth to me, and I was born wrapped in poetry.

I would say that trova is a poetic manifestation that uses the magic of rhyme.

Imagine the world right now if I were doing a décima that didn't rhyme, or if a salsa singer were improvising lines that didn't rhyme.

[singing] Give the heart wrapped in poetry.

It's conversation, a verbal outpouring.

We are ambassadors of the "pie forzado" in the world... and we do it with great pride and satisfaction.

The role of the trovador in Puerto Rico, I think, has evolved along with the evolution of the Puerto Rican people, with modernization, industrialization, academia, and education.

87605524.

Today we're at The Chinchorro 222 222 here in Aguas Buenas, from our friend Fabián Carrión Great show today!

Danzón!

The jibaro farmer was illiterate, they were improvisers who couldn't read or write.

But now the jíbaro goes to school, graduates, gets a degree, and mixes all that knowledge, all that learning that enriches the décima and the culture.

That's how the décima develops- it stays alive, nourished, and full of knowledge.

It has changed over time through the generations.

Each generation has its own concerns.

Suddenly they face new challenges.

Each generation adds new themes that touch on the social.

Of course, we can also talk about that time, right?

Because Puerto Ricans also long for it, right?

But it also reminds me, for example, when I collaborated with Residente on the song "Hijos del Cañaveral."

He said to me: "Look at these images of Puerto Rico in 1920, this poverty-and now the mic is open, so express yourself."

Remember, I like when you look at the audience.

As if I were your audience.

Okay?

Let's go from the top.

Milonga campera... I became a young trovadora at the age of twelve.

I come from a family of trovadores.

My grandfather sang, my father was also a trovador.

Watching them, I learned to fall in love with Puerto Rican trova.

[singing] I know I still am... My first teacher was my father, who taught me not only to sing but also to compose, and later on, to improvise the Puerto Rican décima.

Recognizing myself now as a teacher of trova is one of the greatest sources of pride in my career, which now spans 38 years.

What those teachers once taught me, I now pass on to the children and young troubadours who come under my guidance.

Right?

For me, it's as if I am a bridge between what those teachers taught me and what I can transmit to this new generation of young trovadores.

[singing] I swear that for her [singing] a miniature patriot!

Historically, it's a genre that's been dominated by men.

However, as the years went by, women trovadoras began to emerge.

Right now, I feel proud because I see many girls and young women in trova.

We're going to go again... The new generations have new challenges that we've left them.

Finding solutions to those challenges will be one of the great efforts they need to make in the coming years.

Because one of the biggest challenges the new generations face is embracing the word as a means of change, with all its power.

[singing] If I'm on the show, as a trovador I want you.

[singing] What fame or money?

As long as the sun shines, [singing] no one here gives up.

Our music comes first.

Not all young people understand the love for this tradition, but it's not because they reject it, it's because they don't know it.

There's this stereotype that it's for old people, "that's old people's music."

For me, since I learned about this music from a very young age, it felt normal, but I was bullied because I played an instrument that was for old people, an instrument for Christmas.

So right now, I'm living the best moments of my life.

I'd say that since expression is part of everyday life, it's becoming incorporated into other genres.

Mainstream genres, salsa, reggaetón, and now "campesina" music is part of the mainstream too, right?

Because of this last collaboration with Bad Bunny.

[singing] ... imbued with the magic of our culture!

I believe that the seed that each of us plants, especially those of us immersed in Puerto Rican culture, in trova, in folk music, that little seed we're planting, in the way we plant it, is the path that opens ahead.

[singing] I am the decima [singing] that came from Spain in the 1500's.

[singing] I left the ink in the book and I became a song.

My greatest hope for Puerto Rican trova is that the youth continue to blend in and that adults open spaces and make room for them.

As long as everyone works for the décima, for our culture, all of Puerto Rico grows stronger.

It will continue, right?

Because after me, other generations will continue replicating and evolving the music.

There is hope.

That's why I'm here teaching.

[singing] ...and you became a song.

This is my beloved town, with its vast ocean, a beautiful Antillean garden that I never forget when I travel.

It's very important to me that young people love this culture and recognize it as part of our Puerto Rican identity.

[singing] ...and also the Virgin walking; [singing] among the waves of the sea; [singing] tossing flowers into the sea.

[singing] I have seen our patron saint, the Virgin of Carmen, [singing] and I have been there the times they have carried her through the streets.

It's very important to me that in the future this tradition be remembered, a tradition that also has the face of youth and the face of women.

We're here, and we're not going anywhere.