m.i.a. : arular

i am struggling with the relationship of personal history, pop and politics in m.i.a.'s 'arular'. maya arungalpasam - sri lankan, lesbian daughter of a tamil tiger moved to london with her mother via india escaping the violence of her homeland. she makes refugee mongrel music collaging hip hop, motorcycle sounds, bleeps, grinds, whines and anything else that she can find. like a rag-picker she works on the collage as a form with impurities everywhere even more than beck, perhaps with as much humour, but with a streak of violence.

it is this violence and its sources that I find fascinating. the album art (done by herself- she is a student of art) and her own persona appropriates terrorist imagery not only of the LTTE but also other images of violence- bombs, tanks, machine guns, aeroplanes. she mangles language, words- any form of articulation in spite of claiming an 'education'. ( "education is so important. i think especially if you are the other, then it's always good for you to know what people think about you.")

the debate rages everywhere on the internet on analyzing her relationship with the LTTE. after all she did name her album after the LTTE name of her father.

how much of yourself do you use for your art? isn't all art political? what happens when the art form is pop with its urge to categorize, commodify and consume?

many listeners are disappointed that the album has no overt 'messages' in the lyrics for us to be able to place her in a clear relationship with her past. does she hate it, love it, respect it, reject it?. it is this ambiguity that i think must be the albums greatest success. her identity is inherent in it. it is as 'truthful' as we are supposed to expect from a pop music of resistance.

with its eclectic sampling, propulsive maddening rhythms, the compulsive challenging phraseology, the album art work with her defiant stare at the camera-the music is simultaneously extremely personal and therefore political- and you cant stop yourself from dancing to it.

"If I represent anything, it's what it's like to be a civilian caught up in a war."