Rita Indiana
Rita Indiana | |
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Background information | |
Birth name | Rita Indiana Hernández Sánchez |
Born | Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic | 11 June 1977
Genres | Merengue |
Occupation(s) | Writer, singer-songwriter |
Years active | 2006–present |
Rita Indiana Hernández Sánchez (born 11 June 1977) is a Dominican writer, and singer-songwriter. In 2011, she was selected by the newspaper El País as one of the 100 most influential Latino personalities.[1]
Biography
Born in Santo Domingo in 1977, Rita Indiana is the grand-niece of the soprano Ivonne Haza and great-great-great-granddaughter of the poet and hero of the Restoration War, Manuel Rodríguez Objío. She is also second cousin of the journalist Óscar Haza and of the politician Víctor Bisonó. She was baptized in honor of her great-grandmother Rita Indiana del Castillo y Rodríguez-Objío.[2][3]
Indiana began her writing career with novels such as La estrategia de Chochueca and Papi, fueling her creativity with Dominican slang and colloquialisms.
Later, she decided to explore Dominican popular music, reinventing merengue dancing through her compositions and interpretations with the group Los Misterios. With her band, Rita appeared at the celebrated venue SOB's in New York.[4] NPR included her El Juidero in their list "Top 10 Latin American Albums of 2010".[5]
Topics of her songs range from social issues to divergent sexuality. She has publicly come out as homosexual.[6] Her partner and frequent artistic collaborator is filmmaker Noelia Quintero.[7]
Some of her songs have been written for such influential Latin American musicians as Julieta Venegas and Calle 13.[8][9]
In 2017 her novel La mucama de Omicunlé became the first Spanish-language work to receive the Grand Prize of the Association of Caribbean Writers.[10]
As of 2012[update] Rita Indiana resides in Miami.
Published works
Short stories
- Rumiantes, Riann, Santo Domingo, 1998.
- Ciencia Succión, Amigo del Hogar, 2001.
- Cuentos y poemas (1998-2003), Ediciones Cielonaranja, Santo Domingo, 2017.
Novels
- La estrategia de Chochueca, Riann, 2000.
- Papi, Vértigo, 2005; Periférica, 2011.
- Nombres y Animales, Periférica, 2013.
- La mucama de Omicunlé, Periférica, 2015.
Discography
- El Juidero (2010)
Singles
- "El Blu del Ping Pong"
- "La Hora de Volve"
- "Jardinera"
- "Equeibol"
- "El Juidero"
- "Oigo Voces"
- "Flores de Fuego"
- "Da Pa Lo Do"
- "Como un ladrón en la noche"
- "Bajito a selva*"
- "Maldito Feisbu"
- "El Castigador"
References
- ^ Vizcaino, Patria (10 October 2013). "Periódico El País publica artículo de Rita Indiana sobre dominicanos hijos de haitianos" [Newspaper El País publishes article by Rita Indiana on Dominican children of Haitians]. El Día (in Spanish). Santo Domingo. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
- ^ Wiener, Gabriela (7 December 2013). "En Santo Domingo no es necesario ser gay para sufrir, con ser diferente ya te tienen en la mira" [In Santo Domingo it is not necessary to be gay to suffer; by being different you are already targeted] (in Spanish). 7días. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
- ^ Del Castillo Pichardo, José (17 September 2011). "El Toletero de la Novena de Béisbol" [Ninth baseball slugger] (in Spanish). Diario Libre. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
- ^ Simian, Jose Manuel (6 July 2011). "Rita Indiana hits New York City like tour-nado". New York Daily News. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
- ^ Garsd, Jasmine (1 December 2010). "Top 10 Latin Alternative Albums of 2010". NPR. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
- ^ Indiana, Rita (20 October 2014). "Disney Gay". El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 October 2016.
Antes de ser esa adolescente, fui una niña gay,
- ^ Enslin, Rob (14 April 2015). "Author/Musician Rita Indiana, Filmmaker Noelia Quintero to Visit April 23–24". Syracuse University. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
- ^ Garsd, Jasmine (12 October 2010). "Hear New Music From Mexico And Watch Juanes Lose at His Own Game". NPR. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
- ^ González, Carolina (8 December 2010). "Rita Indiana pushes merengue to new heights". New York Daily News. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
- ^ "Rita Indiana, Premio de Literatura de la Asociación de Escritores del Caribe" [Rita Indiana, Literature Prize of the Association of Caribbean Writers]. El Confidencial (in Spanish). Madrid. EFE. 18 April 2017. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
Further reading
- Corral, Wilfrido H; Birns, Nicholas; De Castro, Juan E, eds. (2013). The contemporary Spanish-American novel : Bolaño and after (First edition. ed.). New York: Bloomsbury Academic. pp. 156–159. ISBN 9781441140395.