Who's That Girl?

When I was in college we got the MTV U channel, which shows videos and music the world over. It was amazing! Most of my electic CDs in my collection come from simply tuning in.There was this Sri Lankan artist named MIA which had a ton of videos. Although I honestly didn't understand what she was singing about, I was drawn to her because her style is so unqiue and adventurous. So for this edition of Who's That Girl I want to feature MIA!

Just by visiting the home page of her website www.miauk.com you can get a strong sense of who she is.



28 year old Maya Arulpragasam was born in Sri Lanka, but later moved to London, England at the age of 10. Not knowing her dad, except for the fact that he was a member of a miliant Sri Lankan group, she was forced to live in hiding and secrecy as a child. Even after relocating to London she faced racism when she lived in a crime infested neighborhood.

However, music and art were her saving grace.



Before she even thought about a music career M.I.A was an accomplished artist.

Although she is not too popular in the US, MTV has banned one of her videos Sunshowers for a reference to the PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization)and she has even been denied a visa to enter the US

So, I couldn't understand what she was saying in her music, but I may need to revisit because the words over her vibrant beats actually have meaning.

Nobody wants to be dancing to political songs … Every bit of music out there that’s making it into the mainstream is really about nothing. I wanted to see if I could write songs about something important and make it sound like nothing. And it kind of worked.

Here are a few of her quotes about herself:

I really need to feel informed about what’s going on, because as much as I love to know what’s cool, and what colors are in this season, and what you should wear on your feet, at the same time, I need to know what’s going on.

I’m just the alternative to that ‘coffee table’ music. I’m the flipside to what Norah Jones is doing.

Wow! I like her even more now.