Mathangi maya arulpragasam biography examples

•

M.I.A. IN ACTION: Voice of the war-torn

Freedom, 'I' dom, 'Me'dom, Where's your 'we'dom?" sings M.I.A. (born Mathangi Maya Arulpragasam) in her new song, "Borders", supportive of the refugees in Europe.

Freedom, 'I' dom, 'Me'dom, Where's your 'we'dom?" sings M.I.A. (born Mathangi Maya Arulpragasam) in her new song, "Borders", supportive of the refugees in Europe. With the flykting crisis roiling Europe, M.I.A.'s song with its stunning visuals of refugees crossing the oceans and climbing the barbed wire fences has gone viral on the internet. For M.I.A., daughter of a Lankan Tamil political activist, her identification with the refugees is both personal and political. M.I.A's art and life story are about identity and constantly being on the move.
Born to Arul Pragasam, a Sri Lankan Tamil activist and writer and his wife Kala, M.I.A. grew up in the thick of the Sri Lankan

•

In the music video for her song “Paper Planes” (), the rapper M.I.A. delivers a kebab sandwich from a New York City halal food truck to a passerby as she sings: “All I want to do is [three gunshots] and take your money.” It’s a play on xenophobic fears of the immigrant—represented here by the halal food truck, and the paper plane, a metaphor for a travel visa—who arrives in another country and takes the job of a native who supposedly deserves it more. But her lyrics clash with the image: Selling street food is ganska different from holding someone up at gunpoint. M.I.A. hands over the sloppily wrapped sandwich and the viewer is left wondering about the tyranny of hope, about the way certain stories are expected to achieve a particular resolution, and about the painful act of reducing oneself to a narrative worthy of consumption.

The tyranny of hope lies in the sadistic comfort we take in the idea that the mind-numbing motions of day-t

mathangi maya arulpragasam biography examples

•

Hosted by Audio Only VersionTranscript:

Benji B

Check, check one, two. How is everyone feeling today? Please make a lot of noise to welcome the one and only M.I.A.

[applause]

How are you feeling?

M.I.A.

Really hungover, but bear with me, I’ll have some Red Bull and hopefully feel better.

Benji B

Where have you come from?

M.I.A.

New York, I just did two shows at Terminal 5 in New York City and just flew in now. I have a show tonight, obviously, so I’m a little bit hungover.

Benji B

You’re massive in New York right now.

M.I.A.

I’ve just kicked off a tour, I’m touring ‘til December and it’s the start of a new set I’ve made. I use the Leema machine.

Benji B

What’s that?

M.I.A.

It’s a sync machine, so you do videos and samples and you can trigger stuff. It’s got a touch screen, so you can do effects and stuff like that, so it’s simplifying the show but complicating it a little bit. It’s a little bit more than a DJ and I have control over the visuals, which is