The sound of the ocean poured from a speaker inside Minneapolis’ El Colegio High School. For Maria Ines Cerra-Castañer, images of her life in Puerto Rico hit like an unexpected wave.
“When you look through the airplane window and you see the island, it’s like your soul comes back into your body,” Cerra-Castañer said. “It totally brought me back home instantly.”
Inside the school, she and 10 other participants sat immersed in music and field recordings designed to evoke nostalgia 2,000 miles from the archipelago. They had arrived with physical objects they had carried for decades, eager to unlock memories that, in some cases, had been dormant for years.
These stories form the backbone of “Pedacito de Tierra” (“Little Piece of Land”), an 11-minute chamber work commissioned by Minneapolis saxophonist José Antonio Zayas Cabán and New York composer Angélica Negrón.
A series of concerts across Minneapolis and St. Paul will combine oral history and live instrumentation to explore how Puerto Ricans are keeping the spirit of the island alive in a land of frozen lakes.
While Cerra-Castañer’s heart will always remain in the Caribbean, she is no stranger to the North. She first visited Minnesota in 2001 with her friend Tamara Ramirez Torres, also a participant in the project. Ramirez Torres introduced her to a community that carried on the island’s traditions through summer potlucks and winter parrandas (Christmas house parties).
“I love the people here,” Cerra-Castañer said. “I don’t know how to explain it, but I feel like this is home, too.”
She stayed in Puerto Rico for more than 20 years to raise her children before returning to Minnesota in 2023. Today, she teaches first-grade math at a Spanish immersion program in Stillwater.
Her journey is one of the 11 featured in what Zayas Cabán calls an “accidental documentary.” Originally he and Negrón planned to write a standard musical composition, but the community interviews changed their trajectory.
“People shared so much with us so willingly and so generously,” Zayas Cabán said. “We definitely started the traditional route, but the storytellers forced us to make it something larger.”
Negrón realized the music was not just in the instruments, but in the voices themselves. She began integrating the interviews as part of the orchestral arrangement.
For Zayas Cabán and Negrón, the project is deeply personal. They have both built distinguished careers within the Western classical music world — Negrón composing for national orchestras, ensembles and film, and Zayas Cabán touring as a classical saxophonist across the United States, Central America and the Caribbean.
With “Pedacito de Tierra,” they’re returning to their musical roots, drawing from the ballads of Ednita Nazario and the jazz rhythms of Néstor Torres.
“I use music a lot to remind myself of where I’m from and what I’m missing,” Negrón said. “There’s no way to not be musical if you’re Puerto Rican. It’s all connected. It’s how we celebrate, it’s how we mourn, it’s how we protest.”
The project comes to life this Thursday, Jan. 15, at the Minnesota History Center as a multi-sensory experience featuring a portrait exhibit, visual art, Puerto Rican cuisine and live music. The performances will feature chamber music trio Trés and saxophonist Miguel Zenzón.
Zayas Cabán, who is also executive director for Our Streets, hopes that when people hear these stories, they remember they aren’t alone, no matter where they come from. He recalled showing the work to a Kenyan colleague who was moved to tears by the project.
“If you scrape out the part that we’re Puerto Rican, these are themes that all of us share who are away from our land in some way,” he said. “I hope that it speaks to people who feel isolated by the situation they might be in. Whether they feel threatened or alone, they are connected to a larger movement.”
Date: Friday, Jan. 16, through Sunday, Jan. 18 (Thursday’s world premiere is sold out).
Time: Various times for different shows.
Location: Various Twin Cities locations.
Cost: Tickets start at $20.
For more information: Visit joseantonio-zayascaban.com/landing-events.
