Cantoria

Cantoria is the improvised sung poetry of Brazil's Northeast, performed by *cantadores*, also called repentistas, who compose verses in real time, most often in competitive duels. Two singers trade stanzas in strict forms such as the sextilha, the décima and the martelo agalopado, answering challenges, praising patrons and satirizing rivals over the cyclical accompaniment of the ten-string viola. Rooted in Portuguese troubadour and desafio traditions transplanted to the sertão, the genre prizes verbal speed, memory and wit: meters and rhyme schemes are fixed in advance, but every line is invented on the spot, making each performance an unrepeatable contest of poetic improvisation.