Griselda Dominelli has a beautiful aura. Her presence leaves us with the warmth of a person who transmits spirituality, good energy, authenticity, and beauty... as if she were a walking poem. During her visit to the Balcón de Oriente, the Argentine singer-songwriter, poet, and astrologer shared with other rhapsodists at the El Cucalambé Iber-American Décima House. 26 did not want to be unaware of her visit and, from that encounter, this dialogue was born.

Las Tunas, Cuba.- "Goods of antiquity/ goddess or woman sent/ to give this look/ pixels of eternity/ the doors of my city/ opened in front of your gloss/ while your beautiful guitar/ with the most sonorous timbre/ is a golden petal/ on the chest of a rose". This is how Dimitri Tamayo summed it up in an improvised tenth, who exchanged a counter-reading with her, accompanied by lutenist Yasmir Rojas, precisely in the institution that in December will celebrate its three decades defending the tradition.

The daughter of the land of tango had previously participated in several activities during the concluded 31st Havana International Book Fair. The Tertulia Poesía Itinerante (Itinerant Poetry Gathering), and a Cubapoesía (Cuban Poetry Festival), among other events, were part of her busy agenda in the capital city.

- Griselda, how enriching is your exchange with Cuban authors?

Enriching. First of all, because of the level of poets and décima composers that exist, who are excellent and of different styles, there are more traditional, more daring, more playful, more comic...; a little bit of everything. Here the range of the décima opens up, which is what moves me. I get a lot of nourishment from that diversity.

It is interesting how I have been reciting and singing my songs, practically every day, during this trip to Cuba. This experience is not very common for me since I do not do it that often in my country. The Havana International Book Fair was a context for that to happen and to train my shyness because I am quite shy and modest. With this journey, I am uninhibited.

- What is poetry for you?

A way of healing. Without poetry, the world would be unbearable. Having it at hand is a possibility to pour out all conflict, all pain, and happiness. It is a way to reflect the emotions that affect us, for better or for worse, and to generate an external fact that liberates and leaves us in a state of peace. Besides, the unconscious will communicate through words.

- What points of contact do you see in the way of doing poetry in Argentina and Cuba?

It is very difficult to compare because societies are different. I do not see the décima movement as clearly in my country as I see it here, due to a question of distance, cultural chaos, and the position of elements. Here it is clearer to me. My country is very big and it is not so easy to get together five décima composers, you have to travel a lot for that. Although there were and there are excellent décima composers there.

- Listening to you, I realize that your poetry has a philosophical aura.

My poetry is indeed like that. That comes from my father, who was a lover of philosophy. Besides, being an astrologer by profession, I have been linked to existential issues of people, human dilemmas on earth, and those big questions we ask ourselves when we live, and I think my poetry would not be like that if it did not have the imprint of an exercise I have been practicing for 25 years.

- I saw in a Radio Rebelde report that you donated Elena Obregón from Camagüey, winner of the 2022 Living Memory Award. Tell me the anecdote.

It happens that when I came last year to present one of the themes of the Ofrenda album at the Iber-American Congress of the Décima and Improvised Verse, I met Elena Obregón and saw that she (the only delegate for the Cuban Association of the Physically and Motorically Handicapped) was missing a lot of activities because she didn't have the batteries for the electric chair.

When I received the formal invitation to participate in the Book Fair from Karel Leyva, the “bug” to bring her the batteries bit me. First, I had to learn which ones to buy, because -for example- I was told: "Do you need deep cycle batteries? It was a whole investigation of which one I needed, the volts, the amperes... (smiles). (smiles). It was a job that gave me a lot of joy, and Elena cannot even imagine... She waited for me when I went to Florida (Camagüey), where she lives. I was there for more than an hour. Journalist Juan Manuel Olivares was the one who took them off the bus (because they weighed about 10 kilos each) and told the experience in a news report. Those things have to be done; those bridges have to be built.

- Let's talk about the album Ofrenda.

It is my first album. It is so called because it is an offering to my native province, Buenos Aires. It is mostly made up of my songs, built on typical traditional genres of that place, genres that are beautiful and are underrated, underrated. The guitarist and composer Juan Martín Scalerandi art directed the album and made the arrangements. The work will be presented on April 14 of this year in a social club in Buenos Aires, so what was shared here in Las Tunas was a preview.

- What did you think of the meeting in our city? What do you think you will remember?

I am pending for what is going to continue happening with the Iber-American Décima House. I feel that once again I have created bridges with Ramón Batista, with the institution, and with artists from here and there. In the Information Center of this House... I discovered a photo of Marta Suint, our great payadora, together with Jesús Orta Ruiz (Indio Naborí). I saw it and I could not believe it. It was very strong what we lived. We heard Marta and José Curbelo (another renowned payador of our land) almost cry with emotion when I called her to tell her. I am curious about how this story will continue.

...

Griselda said goodbye to our land for now, leaving new ties in her wake. She took with her a letter of intent addressed to Marta Suint, to resume the Casa de la Décima that once existed in Argentina, thanks to the influence of cultural advocates such as Ramón Batista. In the meantime, poetry lovers can enjoy Dominelli's works on a YouTube channel with her name.

She left happy, as we did, and eager to attend the Jornada Cucalambeana, where she intends to share texts from an unpublished notebook. Let's hope that everything conspires so that this woman-poet will return to our lands.