July 19, 2005
The transit of Venus in MercuryMusic
Mathangi Mian made the shortlist for the UK’s most prestigious music award, the Mercury Prize, today (thanks, brimful). The Kaiser Chiefs are favored to win. Coldplay’s also on the list, but rumour is that this year’s da bomb in Englistan: M.I.A. has a shot to balance out last year’s pick, the already established Franz Ferdinand.
Previous winners include Dizzee Rascal, PJ Harvey, Badly Drawn Boy, Portishead and Talvin Singh, for his groundbreaking OK in 1999. Sometimes the Prize gives me the heebie-jeebies. They once nominated the Spice Girls, which is neither desi nor kosher.
Proving yet again just how much cooler the UK is, there have been loads of desi nominees out of the 10-12 bands shortlisted each year. In fact, from 1998-99 there were two Asian bands each year. It’s like NYC where you’ll often have multiple desi parties or arts events on the same day because the market can support them.
-
M.I.A., Arular, 2005
-
Susheela Raman, Salt Rain, 2001
-
Nitin Sawhney, Beyond Skin, 2000
- Talvin Singh, OK, 1999 (winner)
-
Black Star Liner, Bengali Bantam Youth Experience!, 1999
-
Asian Dub Foundation, Rafi’s Revenge, 1998
-
Cornershop, When I Was Born for the 7th Time, 1998
-
Apache Indian, No Reservations, 1993
Asians in Media complains that Singh’s win didn’t have coattails:
Remember the infamous ‘Asian underground revolution’ that was supposed to happen when Talvin Singh won a Mercury prize in 1999? Vivek Bald’s excellent documentary Mutiny Sounds showed how that fell apart when industry executives could not grasp how to sell it. Raghav seems to be in a similar bind. One the one hand he seems to be marketed only for Asians. At the same time faces resistance from those who don’t know what to do with an Asian artist. [Link]
Doesn’t the list remind you of the Booker Prize? (Winners: Salman Rushdie for Midnight’s Children, Arundhati Roy for The God of Small Things, Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul for In a Free State, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala for Heat and Dust, Yann Martel for The Life of Pi, Michael Ondaatje for The English Patient. Nominees: Rushdie for every damn thing — The Moor’s Last Sigh, The Satanic Verses and Shame, Rohinton Mistry for A Fine Balance, Such a Long Journey and Family Matters, Anita Desai for In Custody and Fasting, Feasting, Naipaul for A Bend in the River, Romesh Gunesekara for Reef, Monica Ali for Brick Lane.)
Wiki has a great, detailed M.I.A. bio. This last link is in brimful’s honor: someone actually decoded the lyrics to Cornershop’s ‘Brimful of Asha’ and posted them on techie site Kuro5hin, of all places.
manish on July 19, 2005 06:09 PM in Literature, Music · T·r·a·c·k·b·a·c·k address · Direct link · Email post
Coldplay?! For the Mercury Prize?!!!!?
F*@#. I think I need to lie down now.
Too agitated to lie down.
MIA has 10/1 odds? wtf? The only other group with better odds that I recognize, besides Mr. "I'm so sensitive and alone" Martin - Bloc Party. I wouldn't be pissed if they won, but still, their influences are much more visible than MIA's.
Dammit. After super-popular Franz Ferdinand last year, they might go for a total unknown (anyone remember Gomez?) this year. MIA's been hyped so much, people either love or hate her. Maybe with 12/1 odds, post jazz sensation Polar Bear will win it. But I've been told I'd be a terrible bookie, and Mathangi should never be underestimated...
m.i.a.! m.i.a.! m.i.a.! m.i.a.!
peace
Umm... I remember Gomez.
And I thought Kaiser Chiefs were the faves in terms of odds? I would think the Mercury Prize folks would have to hang it all up if they give it to Coldplay.
Also, Manish, I have always lurved kuro5hin's play-by-play explanation of "my" song. :)
she's got a new video bucky done gun too (click me)
a new video for bucky done gun
talvin singh... man i have all his cds and they're all ridiculously good. whatever happened to him? i planned at one point to go out to london and visit some cafe he would jam at.
anyone know what he's up to these days?
Your track record holds steady, cicatrix.
Dammit. I give up. Where do you live, Brimful? And if it's the US, how do you know Gomez? They got some buzz here after the award, but it died really quickly. I'd like to know why exactly I'm having to eat my words :)
Yeah absolutgcs, he's still gigging. If you happen to be in London, he's performing this Saturday with UK Apache, Tigerstyle, Joi and various. I have a spare ticket up for grabs! Talvin Singh has produced some truly awesome music, but sadly he's a class A1 chump in person. "Music is like a potato" and similar trippy (tripping) utterances have made him a bit of a numpty in my eyes. Pretty arrogant too.
As for the MMA, as I said in a thread a few days back - my money's on Kaiser Chiefs.
Cicatrix- San Francisco, where it's our tragically hip duty to listen to bands others have written off or forgotten. (tongue inserted firmly in cheek)
I read through some of the links, why is there still so much racism against asians from Americans? not everything Asian people do funds terrorism, and there's no conspiracy behind why a few asian artists are nominated for awards... they worked hard... they bloody deserve it.