February 10, 2007
Funky ChickensMusic
One of the sources of creative vitality in Third World popular cultures is the uncanny ability to seize on local or global events and use them as symbols or metaphor, or simply to re-purpose names and words from the news for the purpose of entertainment that, by virtue of this method of assembly, is never completely innocent and certainly not mindless.
Also evidenced, not coincidentally, in the best hip-hop, this instinct to appropriate the signifiers of large and possibly uncontrollable events and redeploy them in the service of local meaning results in a constant renewal process in which, as one signifier runs its course, another emerges to supplant it, bringing with it new nicknames for objects in regular use — minibuses, beer bottles, bank notes, lengths of cloth — and new jokes and new dances and new fashions.
With “Bird Flu,” her new single, your girl M.I.A. taps into this endlessly rich seam. Vaguely mysterious, unpredictable, global in scope and potentially catastrophic, the bird flu that moved across several continents in 2006 was perfect for semiotic appropriation. Especially since birds, especially poultry, in various stages of ecstasy or distress have long been inspiration for dance moves — the Funky Chicken and the Dirty Bird come to mind. So it’s a chicken stuttering across a dusty village street that sets, in the video, the rhythm for the song, and much dancing, declamation, and additional avian imagery ensues. No connection to the “real” bird flu, and yet, all the connection in the world.
It’s a cool song, but before we rush to celebrate its originality I want to share with you another Bird Flu song that actually predates homegirl’s.
This one came out in Côte d’Ivoire immediately after the disease scare passed. The hot style there now is called coupé-décalé; it’s a dance-driven pop that has taken French-speaking Africa and its diaspora by storm, supplanting soukouss as the let’s-get-down party sound of the moment. It’s also a very democratic music: the production values are pretty liberal and pretty much anybody can make a track and see if it catches. A guy called DJ Lewis did that with “Grippe Aviaire” (Bird Flu), which generated a little mini-crazy of people flapping like chickens wherever Francophone Africans congregate. Watch it here: the video is grainy and homegrown but it makes a cool compare-and-contrast exercise with Miss Maya’s track and imagery, with different beats, moves, and locations but a similar and salutary gonzo energy.
Bonus cut: the definitive treatment of the Funky Chicken, by Rufus Thomas at the classic 1972 Wattstax concert.
siddhartha on February 10, 2007 10:55 AM in Music · T·r·a·c·k·b·a·c·k address · Direct link · Email post
both videos are insane! love it.
Now that's some ish! Fantastic! Many thanks for the links.
I love it too! Leave it to Siddhartha to do an M.I.A. post :)
Anybody know where the M.I.A. video was shot? For some reason, the styles struck me as more African or West Indian -- or even Latin American -- than something you'd find on the subcontinent. Those were clearly desi people, but the kids in the brightly colored, oversized shirts, the bandanas, the dance moves... it was like a futbol commercial! (Am I trippin'?) I'm loving this festive-without-being-bollywood direction though...
nice tracks....
From here:
A fisherman, eh?
Thanks rasudha. I'm a northie, and apparently I haven't seen enough of the south :)
MIA's video and music is reminiscent of the "dappangoothu" style very popular in T.Nadu and shown in most movies set in small towns or villages. If you watch tamil movies from the 80s and early 90s, you will see that. she does a good job on making it totally energetic and fun.
I dug both tunes and definitely smiled when I heard the tavil sample in MIA's song.
Prabhu Deva video here
Just a quick find here. If you put Prabhu Deva as a search in Youtube, you will find many
This Tamil music totally rocks!
I love how all this stuff is so not within the corporate pop structure.
M.I.A. gives ammunition to us 2nd geners from the Drrty Drrty who are trying to poke a hole in the cultural hedgemony imposed upon us by our brothers and sisters from up north.
Amazing stuff! Thanks!! The beat makes you move.
Anyone has the Bird Flu lyrics?
my word!!! that was desh, dear - and i think you need to dust off that passport and take a trip down south. once you go tamizh, you wont be thinking zhati'. even tho' mathangi says 'south coast of india' - that was very much tamil nadu - from the guys with the hefty pecs to the roosters to the badass urchins. tamil nadu has thankfully escaped the colonial clutch (tm) IMHO - i guess you're relatively fresh eyes are seeing the difference.
Fantastic post - had me "desk dancing."
Bird Flu lyrics
Read more about her here.
Thanks tamasha. :)
Her support for tigers is definitely not subtle.
Can you do that?
the little kid in orange doing the pelvic thrusts has stolen my heart.
the notion extends to musicians as well. mathangi is young - if she's parroting the same themes two years from now, she'll turn into an old amma reminiscing her glory days staring across from a bottle of scotch. that's where the good musicians distinguish themselves - i love u2 for this reason, and appreciate of gorillaz and randy bachman and dave grohl and even that singer of spirituals who turned up one day in bondage gear on a talk show (forget his name). turn turn turn.
Point happily taken! And this little Bihari thought Bengali culture was all there was to envy. No more! (Yeah, that's right Siddhartha, I'm done with you Bongs :P) I'm packing my bags and heading down south.
LOVE these!! Thanks Siddhartha. btw, when I was in europe this past summer, some of the hottest french rappers were women, I got totally hooked!
visit www.beatofindia.com and see the fantastic initiative they have taken in preserving the folk songs of India. You can listen to a bhojpuri song here (lyrics included).
Punjabi folk songs by Swarn Noora here.
Amazing folk songs (by Kabir, Meera, Surdas) from Malwa here.
Shruti, if you haven't you should go to Kenduli to hear the Bauls. :)
MC Solaar. Even my wife likes him.
'Bird Flu' is complete terror chic.
The bird flu dance:
I would be annoyed by the bit about making bombs with rubber bands, except I actually couldn't follow most of the lyrics without help! (Sometimes unintelligibility is exactly the right way to go)
Still, the beat rocks, and the use of the Tamil village style ("dappangoothu," as someone said earlier... I'm going to remember that word) is brilliant -- especially for her. I was worried her second album would be too slick and London/flash/pop. Clearly, that's not where she's going.
It's raw and totally hardcore -- it makes you want to forget bhangra.
M.I.A really milks the hype. I remember her as a stuck-up cokehead hanging off trendies left, right and centre. If she's big enough to allude to Tamil Tigers in almost every video, why doesn't she just spell out her position on that. It's an issue you don't wanna f*** with. Its serious and not just fodder for trendies with little information on Sri-Lanka's history to jerk off to.
don't care much for this gangsta posturing...there's already too much of it in Canada & UK. I guess you can sell just about anything with a catchy tune.
About the dance, it's pretty typical in Tamil Nadu. I associate it with ecstatic Murugan & Mariamman worship, but apparently it has found its way into secular life. Nothing phoren about it
Cool videos...It's nice to see an alternative.
Sriram, represent!!
M.I.A.'s lyrics are not only troubling ("I go on my own making bombs with rubber bands") but just BAD...like 7th grade composition Bad going back to her earlier stuff (though not as juvenile as her label mate at Interscope records, Gwen Stefani). What do the lyrics have to do with the serious issue of Bird Flu? Please tell me I'm missing something?
"A protocol to be a Rocawear model?
it didnt really drop that way
my legs hit the hurdle
A protocol to be a rocker on a label?
it didnt really drop that way
our beats were too evil"
Oh...didn't catch this...so M.I.A. is capitalizing on another serious issue (LTTE and now Bird Flu) to get her music across...how inspirational.
tamasha, how could you read those lyrics without getting nauseous? The background is totally ridiculous :)
This video was fun! I loved the little kids, and the sound. Maybe I am a sucker for M.I.A., but has she ever had profound lyrics? I mean, "Galang".. what does that even mean? I don't know, but it gets my ass shakin!
I'm going to be one of the few people here who does not like this video. I find it painful, annoying and very unoriginal. As usual, the lyrics make no sense whatsoever, but perhaps this is just not my genre of music.
To the recent comments: my thoughts exactly. There was something so contrived about how Maya capitalized on her past to get her record deal and sickening to see white, middle class musos write about her profile and glorifying it to bleeding death. I've met the girl, who is actually about 30 years old, before she got signed and she really isn't that intelligent.
The situation in Sri-Lanka is tragic and those of my dad's generation are saddened by the shit that's been going on between the Tamils and Sinhalese, something that didn't exist for a thousand years until white colonialism reared its ugly head. How dare she compare the PLO to the LTTE? And how annoying it is to see a brattish fashion victim pose with village kids and claim to be underground. The beats are tight, but the pseoudo-political message, capitalizing on tragedy which doesn't belong to her, posing and then claiming to be cooler than thou just make my tummy turn.
I don't necessarily disagree with any of the past few comments. I agree with Amardeep in that I can't understand what she's saying, but I'm not that interested in finding out. I definitely take issue with her support of LTTE, but I don't think anyone can go so far as to say that her music lacks any artistic merit. It's important that there's an artist out there creating dance music that has an organic quality and political awareness, even if it might be somewhat disingenuous.
M.I.A's father belonged (belongs) to the LTTE. Although I like her from a musical point of view, I am a bit confused about some of her lyrics. My hope is that she is trying to promote peace and show how crappy life is with war, terrorism, etc. Or, at the very least, not glorify violence.
Wow, so the MIA-haters come out of the closet just as the the Galang-fever started to wear off...
I'm not saying MIA is the most intelligent, fully representative voice of our generation or even our community but then...who is? The only reason she's repeatedly held up as THE go-to rebellious brown hip hop girl is because she's one of the few out there making the trek from indie to mainstream.
I don't think that saying 'she isn't that smart' is v helpful because she never seems to have said she was, and frankly, from reading her MySPACE BlOG!!! OMG EATING MANGOES in the DARK! IN THE MOTHERLAND! fucking LOVELY and IVE GOT A GUN and some MONKEYS outside in the GARden YO!!!!'... I think she's being pretty open about just being who she is.
Like it or not, there's a lot of people who like that, a lot of people who just wanna hear good beats and fun music, lots of people who connect with her music. In fact the whole point of her music is to present politically important issues in the format of hip hop. She said herself 'I wanted to sound like I was saying nothing' by using simple lyrics to get her message(s) across.
I'm not trying to create big pro-MIA/anti MIA fight, just saying that in reality there's a lot of (so-termed) middle-class - even though growing up I don't think she was - postcolonial people out there who shouldn't be shot down for highlighting issues that may not directly affect them. Maybe she didn't stay in Sri Lanka and get shot/raped...but that doesn't mean she can't write and sing about the situation there. A lot of people in this site haven't grown up in South Asia afflicted by poverty and war but that doesn't mean we can't discuss those issues either.
Maybe her shit's not that great to some but at least she's got her own voice and her own spin on things. It's nice to see a brown girl in a big grey hoodie and purple tights instead of some tacky-assed chick in a see-through Bollywood outfit/sad Beyonce getup!
I'm just finding the whole thing very selfish and thats what makes the music sound like cacophony. It doesn't have to be that way - she could be spreading peace and getting respect for it. As a Sri-Lankan, I certainly don't respect her.
Tash, you are missing my point. Bopping around to tribal beats here are cheap and self-serving. Cool outfits and don't warrant respect either.
MIA at the outset was trying to glorify the LTTE but then it seemed she realised that that was getting her no where. The USA denied her entry into the country over her perceived support for a terror group banned there. That must have come as a sharp, stinging slap to her. She must have realised that supporting terrorism and violence wasn't going to do her any good, because in her recent interviews she doesn't appear to sound like a brainwashed idiot spitting about a conflict that she was never a party to. Moreover, people are identifying her as Sri Lankan and thus nullifying her separatist shenanigans. In my view, artists should promote peace and harmony and not violence, terror and hatred through their productions. One can only hope that MIA will continue to provide us with tantalisng music, minus the gangster propaganda.
Lani, you're not getting mine either. I respect your opinion that MIA is making 'tribal beats' sound cheap in some apparently selfish way. I'm just saying that she's an artist, creating an individual representation of her views through her her music. She's not acting in any way as a politician or a representative of the Sri Lankan, or any other, community.
I'm just saying that while not everyone has to like her art, we could just respect her for expressing her own voice in the ways she knows best. Frankly, flawed as she is, I'd rather hear what she has to say as an individual artist than listen to someone like Shilpa Shetty who's painted herself as some sort of anti-racism beacon of hope for the South Asian community, because MIA's someone who doesn't mind being controversial. Do I agree with her appropriation of terrorist symbols and motifs in her lyrics and music videos? Not always.
But in a way what she's doing reminds me of how Marilyn Manson was targeted after the Columbine high school shootings, and his response in Bowling For Columbine - was he really the villain or was he just someone who was an easily visible representation of 'evil' while state terrorism ensured that Kosovo was bombed to pieces at the time of the shootings? Like Manson, MIA might be an easy weapon to target because she openly mentions the Tamil Tigers and her own views on terrorism. But at least she puts her shit out there in the open. It's people who hide their views who I think really deserve to be the targets of your (justified) anger.
I also think, that at the end of the day, within communities like this blog, her influence is amplified because this is a South Asian blog. To most people out there she just seems like an indie, danceable artist who meshes Tamil, Brazilian and other beats in a quirky way. Rest assured, any alleged terrorist sympathies she sends out are never going to reach as mainstream an audience as Gwen Stefani, Fergie or other female solo artists.
I do know what you mean about her flaws, I'm just saying that at the end of the day, she's a hip hop artist and she's creating her own art and dancing around like a crazy, loud, rude, independent brown girl. And even if that doesn't warrant your respect, it does still earn some of mine.
Too bloody right! No wonder 'galang-fever' never really happened in the UK. Her music isn't underground at all it claims to be but isn't, her politics are a mess and have got her into a mess and she is supposedly so opinionated I'm spposed to let it slide because she's brown like me. I don't think so.
MIA is a talentless hack, excuse my French. Anyone with half a brain can string together something resembling her "profound" lyrics. Click clak daba daba sack mango in a rack - there's mine. Now let me dance around like a moron on crack and have boing boing noises and clop clap beeps and call my song "mango in a rack" and when people interview me I can go on and on and on about how my daddy is a rebel and how, omg, he doesn't want to know me, and, omg, I am a "freedom fighter." I much prefer the music of other Desi artists in the UK. Swami are a hundred times better.
I think she cares more about her next pair of reebok classics then any blown up tamils or sinhalese. I love Fundamental, I remember seeing them in the Anti-Nazi League festival in Brixton in 1993 when all that racist shit was kicking off in UK and the rest of Europe. I was only 12 but man, that music had power.
It's really fun (and easy since it's not exactly Bharatanatyam) to do dappan-koothu if you have the right beat. Toddy or other booze adds to the fun, but it's not really necessary. You know what's even more fun? Watching the dudes doing this dance in front of a funeral procession. The dead person's family pays for the booze for these 4 or 5 characters.
Lani, I wonder if your perception of Maya (stuck up was it?) has coloured your view of her music.
I can't help laughing when I read about Desi artists in UK. How can this milky faced, choir boy voice desis make grime/hip hop music. It baffles me that someone listens to and watches their music videos. I like MIA's attitude. Go all the way girl.
Wow -- interesting discussion! Personally I love the track and the video, but what everyone says about the Tamil Tiger chic makes me think. In London there is major LTTE activity and there was a news report recently about how Tamil businessmen in England live in constant fear of extortion by Tiger reps. There is also a problem with Tamil organised crime, with Tamil youths killing and fighting each other in gang disputes, so much so that Scotland Yard set up a special team to tackle this issue. Being Gangsta and trading on all that Gangsta-Militant look when you hang out with upper and middle class white luvvies and trust fund trendies in Notting Hill is one thing, the reality for Tamil youths caught up in real gangster life and pressure in Tooting and Wembley is something else altogether. Keeping it real? I don't think so.
Milky faced choir boy voice desis? I'd be laughing too if I saw any of them!
Word. Respec'.
Snapper, do Tooting gangstas rep Tooting? Do they claim Tooting? How do they reconcile the name? Even droppin' the 'g' at the end don't make Tootin' mo' fierce! Tooting sounds like a place that would be home to a life-size Thomas the Tank Engine for kiddies to ride while slobbering over Tootsie pops.
It's not that she was stuck up, I was equally as stuck up back. Her music is whack- not because of the beats, not because of the production, not even because of the dumb lyrics (I actually loved Galang), but because of the references to war and tigers - she was marketing herself like that before anyone knew her in fashionable circles, and I could just see right through it. Then she goes gets her deal and she exploits it to the max. Meanwhile various relatives of mine have got caught up in the conflict in Sri-Lanka while she milks it but I don't even want to go into that. There are artists I know who can sing, write, rap, conscious-lyrics and get no deal on the underground. M.i.a from london via wannabe Portobello and trendy-shite Shoreditch, more like. A total subterfuge of reality which I aint buying.
Tooting is a major desi area of South London with a big Sri Lankan populace. The MP is a local Pakistani guy born and raised there.
Any readers in England might have seen the documentary on Sky One a while back about gangsters in the UK fronted by Ross Kemp, and they did a whole programme on Tamil gangs of London. It was pretty brutal.
That's pretty harsh dontcha think?
Some links - Tamil gangs of London
Burger joint sword terror
That last story is pretty typical of the kind of stuff that happens. A lot of young Tamil men have been killed by other Tamil men in gangster warfare in the last ten years in London, never mind the ones just beaten up or maimed and intimidated. Of course they are a minority amongst Tamils the majority of whom work hard and are decent people. However, the Tamil Tigers has brutalised some Tamil youths in England, maybe bigging them up blindly isnt so cool when you look at it like that, particularly as she is a London Tamil girl. Just brings a different perspective to it all, don't you think? Especially when you're all about keeping it gangster and keeping it real.
I still love her beats though, yo.
I actually work in Tooting (a Tamil Sri-Lankan area in South London, less 'gangster' than poor) and most of my mental health patients are Sri-Lankan Tamils all of whom are refugees and illiterate men who had troubled youths. The LTTE definitely have a part to play in that, all were involved with that group or had their families ripped apart by them. The LTTE are corrupt and attack their own people forcing children to fight and have a history of violence and rape in North Sri-Lanka. Tooting's hindu temple holds 'community' events held by the LTTE and extortion and brainwashing are very welcome. Maya's friends and lovers are white and trendy. Head to Colombo and you'll see freedom among Tamils who haven't been coerced into joining, head to Jaffna and you'll see women and children living in fear from the LTTE and reprisals from the Sinhalese government. The situation is dire and its shitty seeing a grown woman glorifying all this and cashing in on victim culture to make a quick dollar while satisfying her ego.
Lani,
looks like you know a lot about Sri lanka. Are you a Sinhala or a Tamil?. This doesn't mean what you are saying is not true. But just to get a perspective of where you are coming from.
I'm mixed as are so many Sri-Lankans don't forget. My dad was a Communist and Tamil and also suffered under the Sri-Lankan government and mum came from a middle-class Catholic Sinhala background. Both left Sri-Lanka because of the social, ethnic strife and both have friends that are Tamil and Sinhalese and intermarrages in their families (Jaffna Tamils who left for Colombo). At the end of the day I'm thoroughly Sri-Lankan and know London well - regardless of my mix, I do know what I'm talking about. The M.I.A package has done well to highlight the conflict which is one of the most under-reported conflicts in the world, but all for the wrong reasons. If I ever meet Maya again, I will be letting her know what I think.
In the UK the LTTE are known for damaging a country that would otherwise be beautiful, peace-loving, tolerant, highly educated and shouldn't be churning out maimed, psychologically damaged refugees, deprived of any schooling faster than you can say Afghanistan. I hope you Desi yanks and Canadians wise up soon if you really care.
I think the discussion here is partly how is one going to set out being whatever it is MIA is...diasporic/mash-up/Third World....?
I actually wonder, what is the term for it? For example, as a punjabi, I would resonate more with a Surjit Bindharkia (RIP) or Mesopuria than Bally Sagoo, but on another level ADF were great to me as well, and totally right.
Is this performance mash-up/Third World? I would say it is, but in a different way than MIA
Thanks Lani.
I have no fixed opinion on the conflict. I do think a federal solution like India has now would serve the purpose..
What Lani demonstrates is that this conflict is fratricidal in the truest sense: brothers killing brothers. There's no way to separate Tamil from Sinhalese, we are in each others blood.
Getting back to MIA, the criticisms are over both art & politics. I love Wagner's music but am pretty sure I would have detested his politics. I do like some kinds of rap but don't find this compelling. And I find her politics reprehensible.
nobody's asked yet-- when does the album drop??
Everything said, respect to MIA for doing her thing without apology....(do some aspects of South Asian culture need to practice bigging up women who do their own thing?)
Why would you identify with Mesopuria and not Bally Sagoo? Mesopuria is from Birmingham. ADF were good when they were good but I don't think they're good anymore.
I like Bally Sagoo a lot, but Mesopuria is attempting to do more of what I attempt to do when I listen to bhangra......he is more attuned to trying to sing in Punjabi for example. I have nothing against Bally Sagoo's music....without him who knows where bhangra might be
ADF were good I agree, not even sure when/if they've had a recent album
Btw, congrats England on the cricket win! :-)
Sahej did you read that Bobby Friction article I linked to on the news tab a few days ago? He compares the music scene in the UK with the USA, cool readings, he reckons:
1. New York is Desi music central in the US
2. San Francisco is the most amazing and beautiful city in the US
3. LA is just on another level as are its Desis
4. Too much Leftfield and Hip Hop artists in the US Desi scene wheres the Pop culture?
5. The (US Desis) dont know just how much talent they have
6. We (UK Desis) should be afraid, very afraid!!!
So my prediction is five years from now there will be an epic musical battle between the US and the UK, and Desi music will be the winner.i>
I don't see how the US is going to get on the same level as the UK as a nationwide thing, its still too regional...I don't think the UK-wallay have much to be worried about! The big stars are not on the same level as the UK, but who knows it might happen
Cheers mate! Monty has cemented his place for the World Cup as the primary spinner and there's another Indian guy who might be selected, Ravi Bopara, if he doesnt make the World Cup he will be a face for the future, he played a couple of one dayers in Australia. Two Sikhs in the England team will be brilliant. Add Sajid Mahmood and the whole thing gets even more brown.
Can't get much better than England over the last week! Also, Collingwood was amazing! England are my favorite team, India is just too lost in its long-ago history...we need a Punjabi Hindu on the team too, Red Snapper start mentoring! :-)
The gaana beat that she samples is nothing out of the ordinary but it's funky that she decided to bring that into her videos...!
I'm only half-Punjabi on my mothers side dude, but I agree, we definitely need some Hindus repping on the sports front for England! However I'm going to push my kids towards football first! We need desis playing that game! If an Indian ever makes the England team it will dwarf everything else. But we don't even have a single Brown in the Premier league, there are a couple in the lower divisions and that's it. I think it will take another generation for that to happen.
acha teek bro, will look for little Red Snappers on the pitch in the near future! :-)
big up MIA again
Sahej, don't get what you mean by whatever in parantheses. You know what? - I was looking forward to MIA getting rid of her baggage with the tigers and her dad, but this latest video's last frame killed it, and the general fending off of the criticism she received as more fodder for a tune. No, criticism aint just from corporate record companies who think she's too subversive. As for 'doing' one's 'thing' as a dark brown woman: I'm doing it and doing it well, many people are doing it, hope you're doing it etc. I always show love to artists who deserve it especially those who have a strong message they abide by (Public Enemy, Fun da mental, Lady Shokran etc.), desi female writers/activists like Arundahati Roi. MIA doesn't deserve the big up - was produced by the 'Sugababes' producer for f***'s sake, and should stick to bubblegum 'galang' style tunes and not pretend to be anything more.
nobody's asked yet-- when does the album drop??
Desidancer,
It drops the 20th of February.
Sahej & Red Snapper,
I'm not using this as yet another excuse to sneak Shilpa Shetty into an SM conversation, but apparently she's seriously considering anchoring a British version of an Indian show called "Cricket Star" -- basically a cricket equivalent of American Idol. Should be interesting to see the game (and aspiring cricketers) given such a high profile in mainstream British television, especially if it's during primetime and has a large viewing audience.
Lani,
I'm from London too. As you can tell from my username, I'm not exactly a southie, so I just wanted to say thank you for your excellent and enlightening posts on the issues within the capital's Tamil community. My contact with them has been fairly limited (apart from a tiny handful of friends back when I was college about a decade ago, and one family my parents are good friends with), so it's been thought-provoking and informative to read about a British desi community I've had very little interaction with.
So let me get this straight, someone who romanticizes an organization that advocates totalitarian rule in a liberated Eelam gets a pass for being a female artist!?
Lani, the parentheses thing was directed at a tendency I see for some aspects of south asian culture be react negatively to a south asian woman not towing to assumed cultural restrictions. Not directed at your comments, which I find informative
louiecypher, not sure where you got from my comment to what you are saying, they are completely on two different tracks of thought
Thanks Jai. Anytime. I think we all know (ethnic communities in London- such a melting pot in the small 'fatherland') how important it is to spread peace and healing among communities that have been at war.
I guess my comprehension of "street dialect" is pretty low, I mistakenly thought you were suggesting that MIA was worthy of respect for her artistic endeavors/gender no matter how obnoxious (and contrary to SM's purported progressive anti-communal stance) her political views were.
Again, I have no clue as to how you got from my statement to yours. Where in the above did I use "street dialect?"
I mistakenly thought
whatever mistake you made, you cleared it up without even needing an explanation. Interesting that.
Maybe Hans Raj Hans can answer your concerns
Post #68: "Everything said, respect to MIA". In retrospect, I don't think there is anything nonstandard in your usage. I could say "I respect Shockley's contributions to solid state physics, but despise his views on race" and that would make perfect sense
Post #77: "Big up MIA again" . I thought this might be akin to "Mad props to XYZ", but am not sure. Can you help me out?
Apologies, I am what some kids refer to as a "pointdexter"
eh gallia menu bilkul nai samaj aye yaar
mai tha ganaa sondu see, Hans Raj Hans da
Malkit Singh can show us both how to be cool in this song
apologies for the blatant colorism in that video
Louiecypher, I was bigging up gal for doing her ting, not for what her ting is.....but as an artist, I think its quite difficult to ascertain exactly what political meaning is meant by a work of art, as there is interpretation involved, and not even knowing her political views to any tolerable degree, I can not comment on what she might or might not think vis a vis violence. Btw, I don't know a single thing about this guy Shockley yaaro
Shockley da geezer dat won da Nobel prizize for inventing the semiconductor transistor yo ! Him make dis inane parley possible yo ! Him believe dat all us chocolate peeps are stupid yo ! Ya gotta separate the scizience (or rhyzimes) from da geezer yo ! Shockley make it soz I can transport myself to Dennys in fuel injected comfort yo ! I'm outie yo !
you talk slang very well
Thanks to Lani and loucie for the insight. I guess I have never taken MIA very seriously, and consequently have written off a lot of her posturing as just immature. It's really helpful and interesting to hear a more serious/informed point of view.
Also, much love for fun^da^mental.
Sahej, how can you not like Bally Sagoo yet like MIA?
I missed where he said he was Tamil. But I don't think he was being totally sincere, so I was just f-ing with him like I think he was f-ing with me. Nothing to do with being punjabi, tamil, or anything
I don't like MIA all that much, I was just contrasting MIA into a comparision between Mesopuria and Bally Sagoo.
I was just messing around, hope no one was offended.
Gosh, I feel so left out.
I hear about Punjabi gangs and Tamil gangs. Where are the bad a$$ Telugu gangs?
Apparently Fun da mental's West London studio got ripped apart lately, mysteriously. Some believe that MI6 were sending out a nasty message to the crew for sticking up for UK Muslims being interrogated by the British authorities. If there's prejudice and racism directed at anyone these days, its the Muslims, especially Pakistanis and Bengalis.
while i'm treading dangerously close to speaking for the other, i think i can safely say that the entire Cicatrix household gives the bird flu a whopping thumbs up.
I liked bobby's article.
Here is a Punjabi video shot ENTIRELY IN THE BACKWATERS OF KERALA and showing quite a bit of Malayalee culture (kathakali dancers, the elaborate boats, etc).
http://youtube.com/watch?v=HABLVQNT348
The Kathakali dancers come in around 1 min 24 sec in the video.
dear amitabh - lovely clip and that actress is quite the looker - but i'm scratching my head here and wondering if the tamil folks on the forum would be miffed at being lumped with everyone in the 'south' - to put it in perspective, let's say we were talking about punjabi culture on the Guardian's blog - and some poster said, "hey guys! i really likee your culture. here's a clip of dandia that was filmed entirely in the thar desert. how cool!"
i'm just saying...
A wild guess. Probably still in the cradles, in bayarea & NJ. It's only a matter of time, they have the right genes.
Back from Denny's yo ! Moons over my hammie yo !
I'm Indian Tamil with a good number of Sri Lankan Tamil & Sinhalese friends. I was kind of f-ing with you and realize that in the words of the immortal (or at least much facelifted) Gloria Estefan that the "Rhythym is gonna get you" and for most people beats transcend politics. Hippies get it, voudun sangomas get it, siberian shaman get it, even club chicks high on E get it. But somehow I was born wound up too tight. Take the video for example, I see some pasangal from the gramam having a grand old time. Rhomba santhosam. But then I see kids with kerchiefs over their mouths and my Amrikan instincts for self preservation kick in. I think in rapid succession:
a) Kadavul ennai kaapathu !
b) Where is the nearest point of egress ? Feet don't fail me now !
c) My parents brought me to the US so I can die of Western afflictions (e.g. roadrage, transfats, severe Blackberry thumb). Getting snake bit or beaten by mobs is not an appropriate death for a somewhat assimilated dude like me.
I wasn't offended by the use of your native tongue in mocking me, I am learning several N. Indian dialects so I can communicate with "the help" ( I keed, I keed)
As others have mentioned before, this is dappan koothu music with tavil and urumi melam. Pretty common in many Tamil movies. Interesting to see it with English lyrics. Here are a few samples with urumi melam.
Siva Sakthi Muniandy Urumee Melam at Mariamman temple in Malaysia.
Inthaadi Kappakizhange
Movie: Dhool - 2002
Music: Vidyasagar
Singers: Rafi, Tippu
Manmatha Raasa
Movie: Thiruda Thirudi -2003
Music: Dhina
Singers: Malathi, Shankar Mahadevan
One of the gaana hit songs from last year. No urumi melam here.
Vaazha meenu
Movie: Chithiram Pesuthadi - 2006
Music: Babu MSC
Singer: Ulaganathan
voiceinthehead,
I dont think I will ever laugh more at any other usage of the word 'right', like it was done in the above line :))
I'm with you in the minority of minorities. When did the MIA non-haters club becoming so small?..meh.
Wow exam fever really turns my brain into dormant Indian English mode.
*become, not becoming.
Maybe I got the bird flu...
Some more Urumi melam and dances during Thaipusam in Malaysia. Check out all the related videos for more thaipusam clips.
One of the many good dancers at batu caves during thaipusam in Malaysia.
A couple more from thaipusam in Malaysia.
Extreme Devotion
Thaipusam Urumi
Hey, my hate dont discriminate. Been steady hating Jay-Z since Hawaiian Sophie days :)
Tells you what a fat lot I know.
Having wasted babas money for five years, I do know tiny bit about art though. Her Poco edition book is worth checking out. Shes got something interesting going there. Unfortunately her Tigger sympathies mess things up here as well.
I am with Lani on her analysis of MIA and her pseudo-revolutionary stuff. Reminds me of Madonna's style of self-promotion--I mean revolution. I had to laugh at the revolutionary spirit of MIA when I was at the movies and saw Galanga being used for a Honda Civic ad! As a Sri Lankan too I am not so psyched about her music or celeb persona, though I am happy to see brown women doing things in any arena.
My impression from watching this video is that she is bringing in a Sri Lankan baila beat, which is the one good thing about the song! This is a specific kind of beat and time signature and is a traditional type of music from Sri Lanka (with Portugese influence and name)that all the uncles and aunties like to dance to at parties.
I laughed out loud when I read this, louiecypher. I'd like to throw in a kandraavi, for good measure.
The need for this was what? Do you seriously think a group of people who have to apologize for being proud of their community, as Punjabis often have to do, is going to be offended if other communities are also proud as well? If Rhomba Santhosam means Chuk dey, then I'm with you bro
Sahej- Amiable piss take. No harm intended bhai. Rhomba santhosam= Very Happy, meant to contrast with my subsequent over riding fear of the crunking thuglets and plea to the almighty to deliver me and my satchel full of Foreign Direct Investment to a less ominous locale
Ahhh, makes sense now. :-)
Laughed out loud sitting in my cube ,causing fellow office workers ( all goras) to look up in alarm
"Romba santhosam"
"Kandraavi"
Takes me back to childhood before I got "punjufied" through marriage :-) and all the "santhosams" became "balle balles"
My son represents the best of both worlds: tam bram on mom's side, "kattar"punju on dad's !
wow both awsome videos thanks for posting this
The Bird Flu is also a dancehall move: I couldn't find the video for the song itself, but here and here are a couple of videos with people demonstrating it, and you can hear the song in the background.
Who was in Sri-Lanka first the Tamils or the Sinhalese? I get different responses each time I ask a Lankan. Sri-Lankans are really cute I don't know why they want to fight among each other.
Though a Mumbaikaar by birth and several family visits, an Amrikan by raising, I still have my Tam pride--as should all of us with our respective sub-desi groups. Louiecypher, that was the funniest shit I have read in a long time!!! I can actually hear my fellow tam brams saying that in my head. Runa - I think People sitting across the hall outside my closed office door could hear me laughing my ass off.
Joining the game late, but I am not a member of the MIA-Hater club. Lani, great insights, very thought provoking. It's just that I appreciate her as an artist because she is different and refreshing and controversial, in my opinion what art should be. I am not saying I agree with her approach all the time though, it's just that it's nice to see a Tamilian woman not wearing a sari, making fusion music, and drumming up news stories and open discussions like these.
I love Saris. If it weren't for the crappy, cold weather and prejudice I'd inevitably receive at work I'd be wearing mine everyday. Went to Tokyo recently and the Jap chicks were reclaiming the kimono, same is catching on wih Korea's hanbok in Seoul. Lani you sound like a cool gal, respect for the work you do, but is MIA really such a fake? Shilpa Poppadom, the answer is: Buddha, his footprint exists on Buddha's peak.
diesel: #79-- thanks!
By God, she is so so HOT. My tigress.
Shilpa Poppadum wrote:
Who was in Sri-Lanka first the Tamils or the Sinhalese? I get different responses each time I ask a Lankan. Sri-Lankans are really cute I don't know why they want to fight among each other.
"Cute"? You "don't know"? Pretty condescending. Go look it up.
You get different answers because people answer as is politically expedient. It shouldn't matter. The communities lived relatively peacefully together for a long time before the advent of Western elements.
Oh. So I guess it's a heavy issue. Anyway you are more condescending.
Of course it's a heavy issue when people are killing each other!
I have a problem with the question of who was there first because the various answers are used to justify gross wrongs. It's not relevant to the bigger problem: war and human rights violations. Regardless of who was there first, the Sri Lankan government shouldn't abuse Tamil civilians; nor should the LTTE attack innocents. This debate has been lively in many other Sepia threads.
As for "cute," it's offensive to apply that to a whole nationality--generalized statements about nationalities are often slippery slopes. Do you not see why?
Woah, chill out. I only said 'cute'. Look at my username and ou will se that I was only being lighthearted. You must get angry at the world all the time judging by your reaction to me.
She is so hot. arrrr
She might be hot Topcat, but she only likes white men. She isn't that hot anyways.