Monday, October 24, 2011
Da pa lo do / There's Enough For Two
I just saw for the first time the video of what was already my favorite Rita Indiana song, "Da pa lo do," from her 2010 album El Juidero.
The song is an evocative story about 2 little brothers whose single father struggles hard to provide for them both. As the kids squabble over having to share, their dad tells them over and over: Da pa lo do. There's enough for two.
The video is gorgeous and with so many great political and poetic details. It makes explicit what was already one of the possible interpretations of the song: that it's an allegorical take on the rivalries between the "brother" countries of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. (Check the disturbing comments on this version of the video, to get an example of the power and timeliness of Rita's video.)
I particularly love that the virgin makes her apparition in a motorcycle and closes out the video lightly swinging her hips as she dances with little kid angels. I also love that the virgin admonishes: not only is there enough for two, there's even enough for ten!
There's so much to love about this video. But... the virgin in blackface? I'm having trouble with that one.
Knowing the poetic and political savviness of Rita and her creative team, I am positive they made the decision to darken Rita's skin while fully conscious of the visceral feelings that blackface evokes for many, self included. Perhaps it's a touch of hyper-irony to prevent the video from sliding too much into sentimentality?
It puzzles me even more that Rita's black madonna—given the pink and blue colors she wears—is Ezili Freda, light-skinned according to traditional vodoun lore. Wouldn't Rita's skin-as-is been just fine?
Here are some of the comments the blackface move has inspired on "Da pa lo do" youtube video page:
I cant believe Rita is doing black face, that really is disappointing.
UncleYva 3 days ago
i agree,i dont like the whole black face thing...but then again back home, shes like..¨white¨ in europe or the states shes not...i really, reallyyyyy like the song, but i think she could have been in her color...no se..digo yo. still amazing song.
elliotsdottir 3 days ago
Venga que lo de la cara negra es solo una figura, podría generar algo de polémica, por lo religioso, pero no creo que la gente que conoce la música de Rita deba darle importancia a algo tan inofensivo! nein!
demonbalooni 3 days ago
I identify the most with "elliotsdottir" comment: I also think it would have worked better without the makeup. But the most important thing: I also think it is still an amazing song.
How about you, my readers? Any thoughts, speculations, interpretations?
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9 comments:
Two "warriors" meet in peace under the great tree in god's land. Why should the Madonna be white where her people are black. After she brings the men to peace she fades away under the same great tree. Native, natural, naivety, as it should be.
Of course, I don't understand the lyrics but this is what I saw.
Thanks so much for your heartfelt reply. I agree with you about the "rightness" of the black Madonna where her people are black. What doesn't sit right with me is the dark makeup on Rita. And, considering I love everything else about the video, I would love for this to sit right with me. But it just doesn't.
I can't watch that image without feeling the automatic distaste and pain of the history of blackface makeup both in the U.S. and in Latin America.
That's why I'm puzzled by the decision to use blackface. Why not have Rita interpret the virgin without darkening makeup? Or why not have a black woman interpret the black virgin?
Thanks for posting this! I don't really know much about Rita, but this is beautiful and little angels at the end... if you get what I mean...! The black makeup is weird, but to be truthful, I don't know if I would have recognized it if you had not mentioned it. It's not like she painted just the front of her face. I agree that having a black actress would have been a better choice. Still beautiful, I'm sure the intention was good.
Sorry. I missed your point earlier Raquel, which I think is quite valid. There really is no way it is "right" for a white woman to play a black woman. I also had a problem with the shiny M; I suppose for Madonna. It is all rather hype, but then that is what the music world is today. Right or wrong. Perhaps it is asking too much where money is the object to do the right thing. Money begets wrong.
My dearest Hoy, artista: Yes, I'm also sure the intention was/is good. And, to me, that goes a loooong way. (BTW, Rita is the writer of Mima's "El pozo o la tumba" song about the Samaritan woman that we both like!!!)
Rubye Jack: It's fascinating to know how the "M" comes across to different viewers, turning off some and turning on others. That same "M" can also be seen as a playful and subtle vindication of popular religion in Haiti and the Dominican Republic since it relies on a specific local symbol/visual representation for the black madonna.
And again, Ruby, thank you for your comments! I'm still marveling and rejoicing that we "met" at Suze's blog and you've been visiting me here.
Black face was a response to the struggle with the proximate other in the U.S's tension between jews(introduction of blackface in movies such as the jazz singer to point out 'if we aren't black we are+=white') and the "other whites" fighting for whiteness in a time in a country where puritanism(anglo/protestant) was idealized.
The politics of the caribbean are way more complex to say the least and to be more accurate, in flux. Though Rita's move to the contentious place of darkening her skin, where she knew people such as Raquel or others commenting would say she is white putting on black makeup is wrong(watch adrian pipers 'Im black'performance). The real questions asked in the video are why the hell would anyone in the Dominican Republic view themselves as white?(Note:black in Latin America) and why would anyone else?
Thanks for your comment. But I disagree.
Yes, the details of the history of race and racism is quite specific to different regions and countries.
BUT racism and white supremacy are a problem in the U.S. as much as Latin America. And the use of blackface in Latin America has its own specific and painful history.
Lighter skinned Latin American folks (self-included) have reaped and continue to reap the benefits of "white" supremacy. Neither Rita nor I experience race and racism in the same way that folks on the darker end of the spectrum do.
Class and race are tightly linked in Latin America. And folks who look like Rita and I are a lot more common in the upper classes than darker skinned folks.
The "none of us is really white here, we are all mixed, so how can we be racist?" position has been used much too often as a way to avoid confronting racial inequalities in Latin America.
I am not saying that is the way you are using it. I'm just pointing out one of the dangers of not addressing head on racial differences and racial hierarchies.
I hear you on the desire to question "whiteness" in Latin America. If you want, lets just call it "lightness." But there has to be a way in which we can acknowledge and confront the specifics of race and racism in Latin America.
Mind you, I didn't say Rita using blackface "is wrong." I wrote "I'm having trouble with that one." I am trying to understand why she and her creative team decided to use it.
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