Buscabulla – Métele
Buscabulla – Métele (2015)
Directed by: Dan Sickles and Dr. Antonio Santini
Buscabulla is a Spanish language experimental pop project of Raquel Berrios and Luis Del Valle.
Produced by Dev Hynes and Buscabulla “Métele” is the third single off their eponymous debut EP out now onKitsuné.
Directed by Dan Sickles and Dr. Antonio Santini, the videofor “Métele” is an extension of the documentary Mala Malaabout the transgender experience and power of transformation told through the eyes of trans identifying individuals in Puerto Rico. Cinematographer Adam Uhl documents a night in the life of Sandy Millones, a transsexual sex worker, and her husband Eli, and Pipiotah La Koah and Queen Bee Ho, two of Puerto Rico’s most famous drag queens.
“Métele bellaco” is Puerto Rican street slang meaning to go hard. Taken out of it’s usual macho context and put into a softer narrative of encouragement, Raquel sings“Métele” as the soundtrack to the nights of the girls from the film Mala Mala.
The words “mala mala” are used by the drag queens in Puerto Rico to express a feeling that can be defined as cross between being “fierce” and being “in heat”, similar to the feelings captured in the words “Métele bellaco”. This sentiment is expressed in the images of Sandy dancing for her husband before heading out to the streets to perform sex work, Pipiotah practicing her famous stage dive at home in the projects, and Queen Bee tearing up the stage at Scandalo, the safe and sexy haven for queer youth on an island where many are still forced to oppress their identity and suffer from violence brought on by their sexual identities. The essence of “Métele bellaco” can be felt nightly in the streets of Santurce as the sex workers come out of the shadows in their heels and tight dresses competing for clients and the drag queens get ready to leave their souls on the stage.
The band is releasing a limited edition 10″ vinyl of theBuscabulla EP on Record Store Day 2015 through Discos Disapora. They will also be playing Festival Nrmal in México City March 1st.
Mala Mala will be released theatrically in Spring 2015.
