Mathangi Arulpragasam, better known as Maya or M.I.A., is a remarkable woman. She was born in London of Tamil parents, and then moved with them to northern Sri Lanka when she was just six months old. They were caught up in the civil war in that country and returned to London as refugees in 1986. Her experiences directly informed her first album Arular and this one, named for her mother, with a wide range of influences and styles.
The original plan had been to record in the USA, but trouble with work visas scuppered that and inspired the track Paper Planes attacking the institutional racism of the immigration system. Instead she used a MacBook and Logic Pro to capture music from all round the world outside of traditional studio environments, including Indian Bhangra, African rhythms, Caribbean beats and Aboriginal voices in Australia. She includes cheeky Bollywood and Tamil movie samples and reworkings of lyrics from Jonathan Richman and The Clash, as well as UK Grime and hip hop sounds.
The lyrics draw once more on personal experiences as well as wider political topics, with the standout being 20 Dollars which tackles war and casual gun violence, inspired by the cost of an AK-47 in Africa.
This is an amazingly rich and diverse album, being World Music in the very best sense of the word. More records should be like this.
https://album.link/gb/i/296393419
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