Jesús Manuel Herrera Rodríguez

A popular improviser, an instant improviser, characterized by speaking in décima all the time, born in Las Casimbas, the place from which he takes his name.

Jesús Manuel Herrera Rodríguez was born in Las Casimbas, in the municipality of Villa Clara, on July 1, 1920, son of a large peasant family, an illiterate machete worker, he learned to read on his own, his favorite text: the dictionary.

He played bongos, the tres, laud guitar, instruments that he also learned to play on his own, the stringed ones he played with his right hand despite being left-handed.

He was a popular singer who traveled the country from one end to the other; for more than 50 years the people listened to him singing in décimas. He was an ardent defender of Cuban peasant culture, considered by personalities such as Chanito Isidrón, El Indio Naborí, El Jilguero, Samuel Feijoo among others with whom he shared stages throughout Cuba.

Important research exists about this figure of Dominican culture. "El Casimbero", a personality and a gift. Already introduced in practice, it makes possible the rescue of traditions, the cultivation of the décima, something that characterizes this character, as well as knowledge of local personalities.

In the "Las Casimbas" school, a Circle of Interest is created with his name, as a perpetual tribute to his figure and as a way for his life and work to be known.

In the schools of the municipality, the figure of El Casimbero is already studied in the local history programs, a recurring figure among young decimists in the area. On July 13, 1998, the "I Jornada Casimbera" was celebrated in honor of his 78th birthday, in the place where he lived his entire life. On the occasion of the birthday of Jesús Manuel Herrera Rodríguez, popularly known as "El Casimbero", and following the tradition already existing in the area, the Jornada de la Cultura Casimbera is celebrated each year.

Children's activities, presentation of projects from the José Martí brigade, craft exhibitions, plastic arts exhibitions and book sales, will be some of the activities that the public will enjoy; not missing the long-awaited competitions of poets and improvisers, a tradition well rooted among the inhabitants of this area.

An intuitive surrealism emerges with grace and naturalness in compositions such as this one by Jesús Herrera Rodríguez (El Casimbero).

The Dog and the Cat

I have seen a dog bark
in front of a locomotive,
but it is because the dog ignores
that the train can kill it.


I have seen in my little walking
this that I am telling you,
I have seen a cat running
ahead of a mongrel dog
and then the cat turned around
and the dog ran away.

He also wrote poems in décimas like the following:

I Am There (Fragment).

I am where the morning
is most tranquil and placid
I am where fortune
shines brighter than the pupil.
I am in the light that wavers
without sounding in the wind
I am in the light that comes
through the sun's little rays
in everything that color
nature possesses.