Ninguém = ninguém: everyone is equal, but are some more equal than others?
“There are words never spoken, there are so many voices repeting the same phrase” — Humberto Gessinger
A sample of south Brazilian pop-rock, the song brought today quotes George Orwell’s allegorical novel Animal Farm, first published back on 17th August 1945. Ninguém = Ninguém was released in 1992’s album by the band Engenheiros do Hawaii. Provocative, it questions the concept of equality, paraphrasing in its chorus a famous sentence from Orwell’s book: “Everyone is equal, but some are more equal than others”.
The song starts off by highlighting the differences in the world: there is not only a great variety of paintings on the wall but also many ways to see each one of them. Likewise, even though one person seems similar to other, they are entirely different. However, if there is such diversity in the world why does everyone appear equally indifferent to everything? Why are there so many people saying the same things? Why so many people lying the same way?
After that, the song brings what appears to be some opposite ideas: “little water” versus “a lot of thirsty” (a few resources for a lot of people), a “dry life” versus “moist eyes” (sadness maintained by life’s dryness and tears’ moisture). A parallel between a dam (used to restrain water) and the apartheid (which segregated people) is drawn. When the poetic speaker makes these harsh remarks about the actual inequality between the people, he confesses: “it scares me that right at this moment everybody has been gone”.
The chorus is repeated with Orwell’s quote. In a democratically constituted country, yet full of privileges, everyone is equal in the eyes of the law… but some are more equal than others.
