Maya Arulpragasam

She's a London-based dancehall MC known as M.I.A., and her hybrid music embodies an ethnic, cultural, and political synthesis so fresh, timely, and compelling that at first it just freezes your mind and you don't know what to make of it. Soon after, though, it dawns on you how cool it is and you're hooked.

Here's the background: Maya Arulpragasam grew up in a war zone in Sri Lanka, the daughter of a revolutionary organizer in the Tamil Tigers' independence movement. She was forced to flee to London when she was 11, where her freedom-fighting background mixed with art school, dancehalls, ethnic street lingo, and world music from reggae to gangsta rap. Now 28, she's an ultra-hip razor-wit bad-ass who's hitting the international scene like an underground bomb.

And her first album Arular (named after her father's nom-de-guerre) isn't even in record stores yet. Her popularity thus far has swirled out of a massive internet buzz over 2 songs, "Galang" and "Sunshowers" (both on iTunes), which she originally mixed on a 4-track in her bedroom.

With refreshingly free-spirited adeptness, M.I.A. flings together a unique collage of pounding Lo-Fi beatbeds strewn with colorful sonic ribbons of basement pop, ethnic percussion, cheesy retro electronica, catchy rhythmic hooks, and a flowing lyrical stream delivered in a brazen girly voice. As she says in the opening lines of "Sunshowers" [roughly translated into stiff mainstream talk in square brackets]:

I bongo with my lingo [I use language as a drum]
and beat it like a wing yo [I beat this drum until I take flight]
to Congo, to Columbo [to faraway places in the third world]
can't stereotype my thing yo [you can't put a label on my art]

I salt 'n' peppa my mango [I blend hip-hop with my jungle roots]
shoot spit out the window [I disregard the rules of polite society]
...you wanna go? you wanna win a war? [would you like to fight?]
like PLO I don't surrendor [I'd rather die than surrender]

In the Bush-Blair era of paranoid xenophobia and with-us-or-against-us thought-conformity, M.I.A.'s unapologetic revolutionary politics are beyond bold. She's not just a thug; she's an insurgent; she's public enemy #1, except a whole lot easier on the eyes than the usual suspects. In fact, she can kind of get away with the quasi-"terrorist" militancy because her charm is so infectious and genuinely fun that it smoothes over all the bomb-talk and scenes of war:

Semi-9 and snipered him
on my wall they posted him
they cornered him
and then just murdered him

He told them he didn't know them
he wasn't there, they didn't know him
they showed him a picture then
ain't that you with the Muslims?

He got Colgate on his teeth
and Reebok classics on his feet
at the factory he does Nike
and then helps the family

Beat heart beat
he's made it to the Newsweek
sweetheart seen it
he's doin it for the peeps peace

Again, rough translation into square-talk:

Government soldiers and snipers attacked a man
they put up Wanted posters of him
then they captured him
and summarily executed him

He pleaded his innocence
he claimed to have no link to terrorist acts
the government produced photographs
associating him with alleged "Muslim terrorists"

He's a clean modern man
who wears fashionable American sneakers
and works hard at a Nike sweatshop
to support his family

His legacy goes on
he's won international press attention
I've seen with my own eyes that
he's trying to win a just peace for his people

The lyrics to "Galang" are even harder to interpret. My vague sense is that the sound "galang" refers to some type of explosion or weapon being cocked or fired, and that the lyricist's repetitive syllables mimic the sounds of a gun battle. In any case, it sounds cool as hell:

London calling
speak the slang now
boys say wha gwan
girls say wha wha

Slaaaam!
galang galang gala
gala gala gala
lang galang gala

Shotgun! get down!
get down ge-down ge-down
ge-de ge-de ge-de
down ge-down ge-dah

Too late! you down!
de-deh de-deh de-deh
de-ne de-ne de-ne
dah ne-duh ne-duh

Blaze a blaze
galang a-lang a-lang lang
purple haze
galang a-lang a-lang lang

You can't really even "translate" that stuff, so let's just say that it kind of sounds like a chaotic scene involving guns, fire, and smoke.

Of course, the pressing question is: What's gonna happen when M.I.A.'s uncompromising real-world honesty collides with the many-layered bullshit of mainstream pop, where glitz-worshipping celebs are either molded in child-star farms like the Mouseketeers or mass promoted for mass consumption in hopelessly-fake reality-TV shows?

The simple answer: Something's gotta break — either the rules of the game, or the person trying to break them. Let's wait and see what kind of damage M.I.A. is able to inflict on the system. I'll be cheering.

UPDATE (18-Jan-2005 02:11EDT): Amazingly enough, the cultural convergence that is MIA turns out to be even more eclectic than I realized: "Sunshowers" is apparently catching on in the New York fashion scene. Zuky reader Wira Quesada points us to Zac Posen's Fashion Week show, which opens with a Beatles-Beastie Boys mash-up, then switches gear (1:53 into the video) to the intro drumbeat of "Sunshowers". You can feel the energy ripple across the audience as the opening lyrics ring out — "I bongo with my lingo and beat it like a wing yo" — at which moment the flowing ensemble to the left of this paragraph hits the runway. It's hard not to wonder how many people at the show realize what they're listening to or see the glaring contrast between MIA's images of armed struggle in the Third World and the glitzy cloud-perched world of high fashion they're participating in (especially given the relationship between the clothing industry and Sri Lanka). On the other hand, maybe it doesn't really matter. Most casual listeners probably just like how it sounds; and I suppose there's nothing wrong with that. Some folks dig the politics, some dig the melodies and textures, some just dig shakin their asses to the beat. One of the cool things about art is that everybody is perfectly free to experience it in their own way. Ms. Arulpragasam herself comments on the contrast between pop sound and political content in an interview in Nirali Magazine:

Every bit of music out there that's making it into the mainstream is really about nothing. I wanted to see if I could write songs about something important and make it sound like nothing. And it kind of worked. It sounds like a pop song, but if you really listen to the lyrics, it's about what I see on the telly and news and what's going on.

Comments

[wira quesada]

i have loved the song sunshowers sinse i heard it in the Carmen Marc valvo fashion show last season..this season zac posen used her song and i love it even more... watch his show on olympusfashionweek.com and find the designer zac posen to watch the show click on the video....................her song is awesome!

[Kai]

Wira Quesada,

Thank you for your comments. As you may have noticed, I've added an update to my post above with a link to Zac Posen's show on the Olympus Fashion Week site. To my surprise, I was impressed not only with Mr. Posen's musical choices but also with his designs; though I know next to nothing about high fashion, the outfits seemed less pretentiously conceptual, more understated and classy, than the stuff I occasionally stumble past on Full Frontal Fashion. ;-)

And yes, MIA's song is awesome!

Peace,
Kai

[ASHA]

thanks for translating. Know wonder I'm so addicted her album! I noticed recently every bold fashion designer are her lyrics to empower thier lines. Like, Luca Luca.

"Of course, the pressing question is: What's gonna happen when M.I.A.'s uncompromising real-world honesty collides with the many-layered bullshit of mainstream pop, where glitz-worshipping celebs are either molded in child-star farms like the Mouseketeers or mass promoted for mass consumption in hopelessly-fake reality-TV shows?

The simple answer: Something's gotta break — either the rules of the game, or the person trying to break them. Let's wait and see what kind of damage M.I.A. is able to inflict on the system. I'll be cheering."

RIGHT ON!

[Jafaar]

I also (during one of my infrequent viewing) saw on tv a commercial for a japanese car company (maybe toyota or something) that had galang in the background music....

[AwrA]

I love Maya so much!!! Since I've seen her open for Gwen I can't help but turn it up, smile and sing along to all her songs!!!:):):)

[Kennedy]

Hey M.I.A. is mtvU’s house band of the week. Online they are featuring interviews and videos from M.I.A. check it out: http://www.mtvu.com/music/house_band/

[brian]

If dat pictures is you your hot!!!