Rita Indiana
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Rita Indiana Hernández Sánchez (born 11 June 1977) is a Dominican writer and singer-songwriter. In 2011, she was selected by the
Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...
newspaper ''
El País (; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. is based in the capital city of Madrid and it is owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA. It is the second-most circulated daily newspaper in Spain . is the most read newspaper in ...
'' as one of the 100 most influential Latino personalities. Her novels prominently feature themes of queerness while the topics of her songs range from Dominican social issues to divergent sexuality. Rita Indiana has been highly recognized and awarded on the Caribbean literary scene, and her viral music success has made Indiana a household name in the Dominican Republic where she is popularly referred to as "La Monstra" (the monster).


Early life and education

Born in
Santo Domingo Santo Domingo, formerly known as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city of the Dominican Republic and the List of metropolitan areas in the Caribbean, largest metropolitan area in the Caribbean by population. the Distrito Na ...
in 1977, Rita Indiana is the grand-niece of the soprano
Ivonne Haza Sara María Ivonne Haza del Castillo (25 December 1938 – 16 June 2022) was an operatic soprano from the Dominican Republic. In a career of more than 50 years, she appeared at the National Theatre, and also in the U.S., Puerto Rico, Mexico, ...
and great-great-great-granddaughter of the poet and hero of the Restoration War,
Manuel Rodríguez Objío Brigadier General Manuel Nemesio Rodríguez Objío (19 December 1838 – 18 April 1871) was a Dominican poet and activist. A martyr of the Six Years' War, he was one of the early contributors to Dominican Republic literature, Dominican literat ...
. She is also second cousin of the journalist
Óscar Haza Oscar Haza (born December 12, 1951) is a journalist from the Dominican Republic. At the age of 22, Haza moved to Miami to pursue his career in journalism. He is host of the Channel 22 news talk show '' Ahora Con Oscar Haza'' which airs on Mega ...
and of the politician
Víctor Bisonó Víctor Orlando Bisonó Haza, better known as Ito Bisonó (born August 27, 1963 in Santo Domingo), is a Dominican politician and businessman. Currently, he is Minister of Industry and Commerce and Mypimes and a former member of the Chamber of D ...
. She was baptized in honor of her great-grandmother Rita Indiana del Castillo y Rodríguez-Objío. Rita Indiana attended El Colegio Calasanz for 14 years. After finishing her schooling, she continued her education at the Autonomous University in Santo Domingo where she studied Art History. However, she left this course a year after admittance. Rita Indiana then attended
Altos de Chavón School of Design Altos may refer to: *Altos (Mygdonia), a town of ancient Greece *Altos (Paraguay) * Altos, Brazil, a municipality in Piauí **Associação Atlética de Altos, a football team in the municipality of Altos *Altos Computer Systems, an early microcomput ...
but once again left her schooling and decided to pursue a career in writing.


Literary career

Rita Indiana admits to having a passion for reading and writing from a young age. The work that first sparked her interest in literature was ''Tom Sawyer'' by Mark Twain. She credits her style of writing regarding marginalized youth to Twain's similar subject matter. Rita Indiana began her writing career with short stories in the mid 1990s, shortly after leaving Autonomous University. At the age of eighteen, Rita Indiana published her first short stories in the only literary magazine in the Dominican Republic at the time. After leaving Altos de Chavon School of Design, she was able to write and publish her first novel ''La Estrategia de Chochueca'' in 2000''. La Estrategia de Chochueca'' belongs to her trilogy ''La trilogía de niñas locas'', which also include ''Papi'' (2005), and ''Nombres y Animales'' (2013). These are peppered with Dominican slang and
colloquialism Colloquialism (also called ''colloquial language'', ''colloquial speech'', ''everyday language'', or ''general parlance'') is the linguistic style used for casual and informal communication. It is the most common form of speech in conversation amo ...
s and center around exploring the social issues present in the Dominican Republic. This trilogy also introduced themes of nonconforming sexual identity not previously highlighted in Dominican Literature. Her early work is highly regarded for its authentic portrayal of Caribbean life and is now studied in literature courses across the United States and the Caribbean. Rita Indiana later explored the genre of science fiction with her novel ''La mucama de Omicunlé'' (2017)''.'' She made this shift to science fiction after noticing the drastic differences in technological and social development across the Caribbean. Rita Indiana also finds that this genre lends itself to more critical social and political commentary that she has previously not been able to access in past pieces. ''La mucama de Omicunlé'' became the first Spanish-language work to receive the Grand Prize of the Association of Caribbean Writers. In 2019, the same book, translated to English, was published as ''Tentacle''. Her sixth novel, ''Hecho en Saturno'' came out in 2018 and was translated as ''Made in Saturn,'' published by
And Other Stories And Other Stories is an independent British book publisher founded in 2009, notable for being the first UK publisher of literary fiction to make direct, advance subscriptions a major part of its business model as well as for its use of foreign l ...
in 2020.


Music career

Rita Indiana moved to Puerto Rico in the mid 2000s and began exploring the realm of music despite never taking music lessons or showing much interest in the music industry. Eventually, she produced the single "Altar Epandex in duo with Miti Miti" after discovering her ear for creating electro-merengue beats on music computer software. This single was very well received and was chosen by New York City's Daily News as one of the top 5 indie jewels of 2008. Rita Indiana's sound is heavily inspired by Dominican popular music, including meringue and salsa. She is often credited with reinventing merengue dancing through her compositions and interpretations of Afro-Caribbean rhythms and electric beats. In 2009, Rita Indiana banded with a group known as Los Misterios and together they went on to release several more singles along with a complete album titled ''El Juidero'' in 2010. This album married the sounds of analog and digital music and reached viral success across several online platforms. Rita India y Los Misterios have become popularly followed both by people in the Dominican Republic and beyond. The subject of their music frequently feature themes of culture and sexual identity as well as social issues of the Caribbean. One of their most popular singles "La hora de volvé", comments on the frequent immigration of Dominicans to the United States. The songs speaks about the hardships these individuals face in the Dominican Republic and Caribbean as well as the hardships they experience in the United States. It is now seen as an anthem by Dominicans all over the world as its lyrics inspire listeners to value their roots and calls on them to return home. At the height of their success, Rita Indiana y Los Misterios played at many sold-out venues, including Santo Domingo Hard Rock Café. The group was also nominated for the
Casandra Award The Soberano Awards (formerly Casandra Awards) are the Dominican music awards, which are awarded annually by the Asociación de Cronistas de Arte of the Dominican Republic in Santo Domingo. Often referenced in music line-ups to delineate a music ...
in the category "Revelation of the Year" in 2010. With her band, Indiana appeared at the celebrated venue
SOB's SOB's is a live world music venue and restaurant in the Hudson Square neighborhood of Manhattan. S.O.B.’s is an abbreviation of Sounds of Brazil. Larry Gold opened SOB's in June 1982 with the purpose of exposing the music of the Afro-Latino d ...
in New York and
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included her ''El Juidero'' in their list "Top 10 Latin American Albums of 2010". She was given the nickname "La Monstra", translated to "the monster". Indiana released her most latest single in 2017 called "El Castigador" after going on a hiatus for several years. Indiana's primary focus is on her literary career than creating music. She admitted that she disliked the "pop fame", and she wanted to walk the streets without being recognized everywhere she goes. Rita Indiana also appreciated the autonomy and independence of writing whereas producing music required extensive collaboration. She has stated that she feels comfortable with her decision to leave the pop music industry where her career felt as if it happened somewhat by accident. However, she continued to produce music for other artists and musicians. Rita Indiana has written songs for influential Latin American musicians
Julieta Venegas Julieta Venegas Percevault (; born 24 November 1970) is a Mexican singer, songwriter, instrumentalist, and producer who specializes in pop-rock-indie music in Spanish. She embarked on her musical journey by joining several bands, including the ...
and Calle 13.


Film career

Indiana played the role of Señora Dios in ''Mosh'' (2019) by Juan Antonio Bisono. Indiana's novel ''Papi'' (2005) was adapted into the feature film ''Papi'' (2020) directed by Noelia Quintero, of which Indiana was an associate producer and composer, on top of playing the role of Muerta.


Personal life and influence

At the 2010 Casandra Awards in 2010, Rita Indiana attended the prestigious event with her partner Noelia Quintero, whom she held hands with and kissed throughout that evening. Rita Indiana was met with public backlash and criticism. Many media outlets expressed disapproval of the pair's public display of affection and labeled this event as Indiana's official public outing. However, Rita Indiana's musical and literary career seemed to be unaffected by the controversies and she continued to discuss both her sexuality and her relationship openly with the public. Through her work and her interviews, Indiana has established her stance against the social norms surrounding sexual and gender identity in the Caribbean. Aware of the ambiguity of her appearance, the writer rejects the notion of labels and expresses her discomfort with the pressure of these norms and says, "Labels exist because they have a function. . . I’ve been dealing with labels all my life: Tomboy, headbanger, weirdo or lesbian, underground, celebrity. Labels are caricatures." Because of her vocal ideas on
queerness ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are non-heterosexual or non-cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against LGBTQ people in the late 19th century. From the late 1980s, queer activists began to r ...
, Rita Indiana has become a key advocate of the queer community in the Caribbean and continues to use her work to create a space in which a heterogeneous, multiple and complex Caribbean reality is reflected. Though Indiana is not publicly involved in queer politics, by representing the queer community in her work, Indiana uses her musical and literary influence to act as a cultural counter-strategy against homophobia and gender oppression seen in the Caribbean.


Awards and nominations

* Nominated for her novel "La mucama de Omicunlé" from the Premio Bienal de Novela Mario Vargas Llosa * Award for her novel "La mucama de Omicunlé" from the Grand Prix Littéraire Région Guadeloupe


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 ** English Translation: ''Papi: A Novel'', University of Chicago Press, 2016 * '' Nombres y Animales'', Periférica, 2013 * '' La mucama de Omicunlé'', Periférica, 2015 ** English Translation'': Tentacle'', And Other Stories, 2019 * '' Hecho en Saturno'', Periférica, 2018 **English translation'': Made in Saturn,'' And Other Stories, 2020 *''Asmodeo'', Periférica, 2024


Discography

* ''El Juidero'' (2010) * ''Mandinga Times'' (2020)


Singles

*"Altar Epandex in duo with Miti Miti" *"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


Further reading

*


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Indiana, Rita 1977 births Musicians from Santo Domingo Writers from Santo Domingo 21st-century Dominican Republic women singers Dominican Republic women novelists Dominican Republic novelists Dominican Republic people of Cuban descent Dominican Republic women songwriters Dominican Republic women short story writers Lesbian singers Living people Dominican Republic lesbians Lesbian songwriters 20th-century Dominican Republic LGBTQ people 21st-century Dominican Republic LGBTQ people White Dominicans Women in Latin music LGBTQ people in Latin music 21st-century Dominican Republic women writers