September 16, 2005
Wah, po’ MayaMusic
The WaPo harps on our favorite word here at Sepia Mutiny: not M.I.A., ‘exotic.’ Ain’t nothing unusual about Maya’s phenotype (thanks, Turbanhead):
… that hasn’t stopped some critics from dismissing her as “the love child” of Neneh Cherry and Che Guevara and harping on her exotic runway model looks… [Link]But her aesthetic was also intimately familiar: her small-faced, tousle-haired cutenesss resembles my female Berkeley classmates; the South Indian hip-hop fans at Berkeley are legion. [Link]
Arular is to Maya what Ravi Shankar is to Norah, more or less:
After reading about M.I.A. in the Sri Lankan Times, Arulpragasam sent her a note saying, “I’m very proud of you, but you have to change the name of the album. Dad.” She didn’t. “What can you do?” she asks pointedly. “There’s many things I’m not pleased about that he’s done, so hey… . ” [Link]
MTV turns out to be prudish. Who knew? (And uninformed in Sri Lankan cuisine.)
MTV also questioned the subtext of “salt and pepper my mango,” which turned out to be culinary rather than sexual… [Link]
This, from the channel that put ‘Freak-a-Leak’ on heavy rotation:
I need a girl I can freak with, and wanna try shit, and ain’t scared of a big d—
And love to get her p— licked, by another bitch, cuz I ain’t drunk enough ta do dat.
[and so on… Link]
Journalism is going to the dogs. First they quote Nirali, next thing you know they’ll be quoting blogs 
(Congrats…)
M.I.A. told the South Asian online magazine Nirali that she “wanted to see if I could write songs about something important and make it sound like nothing.” [Link]
manish on September 16, 2005 06:39 AM in Music · T·r·a·c·k·b·a·c·k address · Direct link · Email post
Bollywood bhangra?
*groan*
Desi journalist Ashlene talks to MIA about Missy, Kanye and....yep, you guessed it- Sri Lanka. It's a good read. She calls the UK Asian scene negative, which I guess is a good way to describe it. www.ashleneonline.com
missing
I read that interview with Ashlene and God Bless M.I.A but she doesnt half talk some bollocks sometimes - "negative" UK scene and all - divas need to be Joan of Arc I suppose.
Can someone please exaplin the appeal of M.I.A's music? She shreiks incoherently and yet the left co-opts her cacophony to confront the Man.
The Man has wronged me too, but this is too much...
Manish,
I am no prude but the lyrics were unnecessary.
"She shreiks incoherently and yet the left co-opts her cacophony to confront the Man."
Nicely put. I don't think she's incredibly talented, can barely sing or shake her booty. And her politics are half baked. But she's kind of cute and is definitely different. Her beats aren't half bad either.
exotic = pretty with a big nose.
yeah I think she will be known for her story (ok so she survived refugee status) but not her music. But I have to agree on her comments about the UK Asian scene. The UK Asian scene is killing us all softly with their awful pop-wannabe-black-britney trash (MIA is no exception here, she sounds like a monkey). Those Brown Brits think they're better than everyone else but they make the worst music. And the only people congratulating them are themselves.
Oh I so love being an English Desi and the fantastic vibrant colourful varied massive innovative musical culture we create and bounce around - its so SEXY and cool and special and real and trashy and alive and bubbling and varied and true - bring on the culture and dance - so exciting and fresh and wonderful! This soundtrack to our lives! Not for the bitter only for the sexy and sweet! :-D
ah, no WONDER i love her. ;)
Austin MIA fans can go hang out with M.I.A. at La Zona Rosa on Friday Sept 16. Our less privileged brethren in Houston get to meet her the day afta.
Her music is ok, but perhaps a little too angsty-chic for me.
http://www.miauk.com for more information.
Hahahahahahaha! :D
It's just this:
Try viewing MIA as a Himachal girl whose community is being blown to smithereens in a remote country in Mars or Venus or Jupiter or Pluto. Arise and slash, brandish your swords so hell can be unleashed, the Wittgensteinian bekaboo can be jilmashed jullfry! What more to say! Have fun, slosh a few French Kamikazees and have a good night's sleep!!
:-) (Smile, world, smile :-))))))
this is just from observation, but I think exotic has a lot of meanings;
"you're pretty and I didn't expect that"
"i would never marry you but you're pretty"
"i find the fact you are different from me strange, but exciting"
"i don't find much else attractive about you, but you look different than I expect, so hey"
"wow won't mom or dad be mad when they see this"
"i am special because i am different because i date one of them"
"you're hot"
for the object;
"i have low self esteem and its cool someone likes me"
"i think he/she really likes me for me"
"whatever, he/she is hot"
ta-da!
Thank you-I never understood it either. Given a choice of diasporic female artists, I much prefer Sonya Madan of Echobelly, as she actually could sing. Unfortunately, they went unnoticed by pretty much everyone except indie kids on Vespas.
good lord, another hatin' on maya thread. hasn't this been covered already? but since no one else will, let me stand up for the sister. she's creative, her beats are strong, her writing is imaginative and idiosyncratic, and she sings fine as far as i'm concerned. i've seen her live and she was great. moved the crowd like a real m.c. if you guys don't like her, that's cool, but there's no need to call her a monkey, or her music cacophony. she's a creative artist and she's taking the risk of doing her thing, live and direct, for us to judge, adore or hate. she gets much respect here.
peace
personally i have no problem with her but i do have a problem with all this other business. why should we celebrate her success? i don't find much to celebrate about the reasons the press likes her. its just a mish-mash of objectification in my opinion. it seems like some people are getting off on the idea of her, what she represents. isn't that objectification?
Raju, on the button about "exotic." Good job.
At this point in history, any desi artist popular in US/UK (among non-desis) would have "objectification" involved in their appeal, don't you think?
I think being objectified might make it easier to be popular but maybe there's a way to make it big and not be objectified? i would hope so. not all the non-desis liking MIA are into objectifiying her i'd hope. those people would still like her. but the ones who are just into her for what she represents to them, those fans might be turned off. unfortunately (or foruntately) you can't really tell who is who
but good point
Deepa - What about Tony Kamal? No exotification there. There have been a fair share of desis in the underground metal scene. No exotification there. People don't automatically exotify what's authentic. You have to invite it.
I think she is great!, come on there isn't many Sri Lankan singers (in fact there's no one at all?!)wich are "popular" in the stats or?