CEREZAS EN TAMBORIL

Brenna Sherman, PGE, and Rachel Schwabenbauer

Coreisa Lee, PGE, and Crisha Joyner

When we were children, my sister, my cousin Laura and I used to sleep over at my grandma’s house in Tamboril (Dominican Republic). All four of us used to sleep in the same bed – she used to read us stories and teach us how to pray. I remember waking up early and going out to explore backyard still in my pajamas. There was a cherry tree: green ones in the tree, red ones on the ground. I was always drawn to it, although I knew the cherries were pretty sour. Cerezas en Tamboril portrays the journey of reliving memories such as this one. In the first section, the memory is observed from afar with nostalgia with a melancholic, slow melody. Then, the memory is seen in present tense – it depicts me playing under the cherry tree. It has a playful and fun character and the dissonances represent the sour fruit. In the last section, the melody comes back in a more ethereal character with variations in rhythm. This symbolizes the possibility of remembering a new detail, and the manipulation of the memory due to revisiting it in other circumstances. In both cases, the effect is the peace and joy of awakening the innocence that is still kept within all of us.