As for “Arular”, that’s her father, a former member of the Tamil Tigers, the Sri Lankan dissident group recognized as a terrorist group by several nations including the United States. This is the reason for her family’s flight from Sri Lanka and the direct inspiration for a good amount of her music and artwork.
M.I.A.’s music amalgamates an entire world's beats into one exhilarating stew. Imagine a Sri Lankan woman from London rapping Jamaican dancehall style over Atlanta crunk spiced with Indian bhangra and you get the picture. Her debut single "Galang" is a rattling minor masterpiece that some people have hailed as the harbinger of a new era of world music. And it does seem that M.I.A.’s naïve newcomer approach has resulted in a truly “world” music that does not make distinctions between bhangra, crunk, baile, dancehall, and techno.
However, I have a problem. More to the point, I wonder why other critics don't see a problem with the daughter of (what some would call) a terrorist appropriating the rhetoric and imagery of war and terrorism for the sake of pop music? Watch the video for "Galang" and then come back. It's actually worth it; the song really grows on you. I'll wait.
Check it out. Graffiti, stencils, spraycans, chainlink fences, tigers, tanks, Molotov cocktails, Hueys, burning palm trees, and bombs. Given that M.I.A. grew up in a war-torn nation and then saw the worst of what Margaret Thatcher's England had to offer newcomers, it's not particularly surprising that she draws her inspiration from what she's seen. But something about how she, a grown woman, deploys this imagery of war and suffering comes across to me as unspeakably crass.
You see, the Tamil Tigers invented the suicide vest and the modern practice of suicide bombing, and in light of this, lyrics like "I got the bombs to make you blow" don't read as ambiguously political party starters. They read - whether M.I.A. meant them this way or not - like half-assed slogans from someone who hasn’t thoroughly thought through the politics of the suicide vest. Given her past, I seriously doubt that's the case, which makes her lyrics all the more puzzling.
It is possible for political music to be fatuous. For example, Madonna cemented her slide into cartoonish irrelevance on stage at Live8 with the cry, "Aah you ready foh a REVOLUTION?!?" and "We Are The World" was a study in smug self-contradiction. But on "Galang," M.I.A. does the opposite, turning a slight but entertaining slice of clangy pop music into something strange and slightly disturbing.
Article comments
1 - Lonely Canuck
Just saying, I got a chance to interview her - you can listen to it here
2 - Michelle
I think there's an area that a lot of people are missing with M.I.A. and that is: humor. I feel like a lot of what she says is tongue-in-cheek. If you look at it that way, it takes on a whole new meaning. Maybe that's just my take, but when you take a song like Sunshowers and think about how U.R.A.Q.T. is on the same record, you have to wonder how "serious" this is all supposed to be. I feel like there may be an element of spoofing gangsta rap. Something to think about.
3 - Antonia
Interesting article. I'm glad someone had the guts to put this out there. It's what I've felt all along about the content of her music. Yea, it sounds good... "catchy"... but really, the content is vile. It's worse than vile. And you're right... fans are stupid. And that's why, despite the world scene and how WRONG her music is especially in light of it... she still succeeds. It's disgusting.
4 - Antonia
I just noticed that article was forever ago.
LoL... ah well... point is it all still applies... doesn't it.
5 - Christopher Rose
Acton isn't a council estate, it is a borough of London.