Singing for Love

When Rosy was approached by songwriter/videomaker Timmy Danbrook to become involved in creating a video for his song Anger’s Not Pretty, she wasn’t sure what to expect. The ideas being floated included Spanish lyrics, completely new lyrics, a rearrangement, some orchestration… an open palette. In the end one line, “…but it’s mine” set the direction.

Rosy’s work in the field of domestic violence goes back over 10 years. Throughout all this time she’s seen the victim blamed and chastised, or heard somehow she brought it on herself. Here is a song that makes no excuses. The man in Anger’s Not Pretty knows exactly where his anger resides. Rosy set out to speak of women: “…It is important that the woman realizes that when she suffers violence from her partner, she’s not really loved… the perpetrator [intends] to hurt her.” And she speaks directly to men: “If you, man, can not control your violence, then you need help. Look for it! That will make you feel like a better human being and you can offer your family a life of satisfaction, love and hope.”

The images are graphic and you may want to turn away. To paraphrase the words of Deepa Mehta, speaking recently to a master class for York University film majors after a screening of her Anatomy of Violence: “Don’t fool yourselves. Don’t look at this and think “it’s India [Cuba, Brazil, someplace foreign or far away]. This is universal. This could be Bloor and Spadina.”