M.I.A. and DJ Rekha spin, grind and wobble at a free concert in Central Park, August 7 at 3pm (thanks, Anna). The suspiciously absent-as-of-late Diplo is still on the bill.
It’s an odd combination, electrogrime and Rekha, and a long way from Simon and Garfunkel and Strawberry Fields. But if the show draws hipsters shedding layers of snitty reserve to blog archly about it later, it’ll rock as hard as the Knitting Factory. And once my fellow bhangraleros arrive, it’ll be ebony ‘n ivory all over again — carefully mussed shabby chic versus the authentically disheveled 😉
I can get squeaky so she can come and oil me at:
Central Park SummerStage is… at Rumsey Playfield… on East 72nd Street off Fifth Avenue… enter the park on 69th Street and 5th Avenue.Entrance to the SummerStage area begins 90 minutes before the shows start on weekends, and 60 minutes before for weeknight performances… If you’re not into battling crowds and are content to just hear the music, there is plenty of space on the grass outside of the SummerStage area. From there, you can easily hear the concert while lounging on the grass. [About.com]
Also, Missy Elliott gets ‘hur’ freak on with everyone’s favorite Salt ‘n Pepa fan on her new album (via Brooklyn Vegan):
M.I.A.’s… rumored to be on Kanye’s upcoming Late Registration… [and] has a guest spot on the last track of the new Missy Elliott joint, The Cookbook. The cut, “Bad Man”, also features Vybz Cartel and was produced by Missy herself. [Pitchfork]
WOO-HOOOO!
MIA makes her triumphant return to SM! this is AWESOME! 😀 who’s up for shedding layers of snitty reserve to blog archly about it later? i am!
The “Summerstage @ the Rumsey Playfield” concerts draw a pretty eclectic group of performers each year. They sample extensively across genres, and even get some good foreign performers as well. In June alone they’ve had Modest Mouse, David Byrne and The Killers perform in paid fundraisers for the concert series. One of their five free performances this month was by Jazz Diva Cassandra Wilson. This is Central Park’s smaller and hipper venue, and concerts are usually alot of fun.
Check out their extensive listings for this summer.
The West Coast rocks! It’s the best! I don’t miss New York at all. Really. Seriously. I’m not going to go look for a cheap flight right now. I’m not!
Did anyone see her show at S.O.B’s? I couldn’t make it and would love a recap. Curious about pro-LTTE Tamil turnout.
I saw No More Tears, Sister (a movie about Dr. Rajani Thiranagama, a disillusioned LTTE supporter turned human rights activist shot by the LTTE in 1989) at the Lincoln Center a few weeks ago, some pro-LTTE types turned up to glare threateningly at Dr. Thiranagama’s daughter during the Q&A after.
From what I’m told, LTTE members are quite amused by MIA.
Recap: Matt Damon and David Byrne showed up; Diplo done gone.
ohhh! I love it! Can I admit to suffering from a bad case of shadenfragasam? Rumor has it she’s found a hitherto unkown diva button. Also that since she and Diplo are no longer an ‘item’ (as they say) their paths have diverged. I was at the afterparty with DJ Marlboro and Diplo at Rothko. MIA was, well, MIA.
It is neat to see all this drooling over her looks. Most desi girls I know (ok. me.) are like “really? cool!” and I really do lurv the music.
but back to the LTTE. I guess she’s stopped talking about them since no one brings it up?
You went to the afterparty for a show you missed? Hardcore.
No idea what’s new with the Tiger connection.
Hardcore? I wish. (dirty NY secret: afterparties much easier to crash than the shows.)
Also, I’m on the Baile funk beat these days and Marlboro is my new god.
Interesting, and predictable, I guess, that championing the LTTE cause is a thing of the past. “hello? this is LTTE. It’s ok – you forgot me.”
ok. So I felt bad about snarking when I haven’t read up on her recently, and found this article from the UK Telegraph. Dated 6/23.
about dad and LTTE: “Right now I’m on a whirlwind experience,” she says afterwards, “and I don’t really have time to commit to getting to know my dad. It’s a hard time for me to open up that can of worms.”
best line: “The immigrant experience, she contends, is where the next punk is coming from.”
so I’m back to thinking she’s awesome. sigh.
She’s never championed them, she just uses imagery that’s obviously influenced by them and the war in sri lanka in her shows/cd art/website/lyrics
you might see that as ‘championing’ their cause but i consider it more a reflection of how much impact the conflict has had on her life/experience
i went to her show in toronto a few weeks ago and there were maybe 10 brown people in the crowd, i think my friend and i were the only tamils…pathetic considering there are a couple hundred thousand tamils in toronto
the crowd was mainly the white, pitchfork reading, corny hipster kid type, i guess a lot of them were there for LCD soundsystem (m.i.a opened)
oh and i saw No More Tears… a few weeks ago as well, are you saying the LTTE killed her purely because of what you heard in the movie? I can’t say that they didn’t but her killing is blamed on the LTTE/competing tamil liberation groups/SL govt depending on who you ask, this movie presents just one side of it – albeit in a very moving manner
Actually, she has, in lyrics, concert graphics and press interviews.
you might see that as ‘championing’ their cause but i consider it more a reflection of how much impact the conflict has had on her life/experience
I consider everything she says a reflection of how little she knows about the conflict. To use their imagery IS to champion them, since knowing anything about them is to run away, screaming.
Thiranagama’s daughter said pretty clearly, at the screening I attended, that the LTTE shot her mother. Her mom and her aunt had both been so involved with the group, she had sympathetic (to the family) LTTE members whisper condolences afterwards. Once you join the LTTE, you can’t leave – they will kill you.
Thiranagama’s sister was a cause celebre for the LTTE back in the early 80s – so her eventual defection was hushed up, and she was untouchable. Thiranagama herself was allowed to leave (and live) because the family was so well-known at that point, but her anti-LTTE human rights work (documenting how the LTTE abused the very Tamils they’re supposed to represent, allowing NO dissent, etc) eventually became too much the LTTE muckety-mucks, and she was shot.
You have a broad definition of championing then. To me, none of that definitively smacks of supporting the tigers. The mixtape title can easily be seen as a jab at the prevailing political mood in the world,
the showers at you remark can be seen as just the usual hip hop attack on the generic enemy – even if she uses terms that are influenced by her background
her album being called arular, again, can be seen as a personal thing with her dad or a throwback to her past, the tigers running through her art are similarly a reflection of her past and background… she grew up in northern sri lanka during the beginning of the conflict and her father was a liberation activist/fighter, all of those things can be interpreted – if one wants to – as support for the tigers but they can also easily be viewed as simply her using art to convey her experience
Oh, and when someone asked how the LTTE are funded, the daughter laughed and said, “Toronto.”
Apparently the place is awash in LTTE sympathisers since most of the Sri Lankan Tamils who live there arrived in the early 80s. Right after (or before) the riots of ’83 when Sinhala mobs horribly killed innocent Tamils in the streets of Colombo. Most Toronto Tamils (I hear. I’m sure there are exceptions) are so ardently anti-Sinhalese now, they don’t really know (or care) what the LTTE does to get Eelam.
Sure, dude. If wrapping yourself in symbology means you disapprove of it, George Bush must hate the American flag.
Fortunately, we have M.I.A.’s interviews to disambiguate this, where she complains the cuddly LTTE gets a bad rap.
cicatrix, you basically repeat the opinions of her sister, how can you verify any of that?
i’m not saying that her sister is lying but there is enough contention about her death from all sides that i’m not willing to accept those claims at face value
As far as Thiranagam’s concerned, yes, I am repeating the opinions of her daughter. Who was there when her mom joined the LTTE, left in horror to document abuses, and died for it.
She (the daughter) still knows people in the LTTE – they joined at the same time as her mother and aunt. They all had idealistic notions of egality and revolution – and are now too afraid to leave. I consider her a pretty damn good source, actually.
I also have my own experiences, since I lived in Sri Lanka until 1989.
That there is any confusion over Thiranagama’s death is a great example of how brilliantly the LTTE manipulate the truth, the media, and their image. Why would the SL govt kill Thirinagama when she was documenting LTTE abuse of Tamils?! Why would other LTTE factions (none of which last long, e.g. Karuna’s death this February) kille her when she was documenting how the LTTE harshly repressed dissent?? Who had the most the gain by silencing her? And there is still doubt?
Regardless of her position on LTTE, M.I.A.’s politics just aren’t serious. She might play a role in bringing about some sort of pseudo-revolutionary hipster love for the LTTE and possibly give some of her money to them, but the lyrics that I can understand or have seen typed out (thanks Manish:) are more about sex and anti-consumerism and being cool than about substantively engaging the politics of Sri Lanka. In the best case scenario, she’ll raise the issue so people who actually know what they’re talking about can get some more airtime.
She’s radical chic and in a better position to comment about being Sri Lankan and growing up in Britain than the civil war in Sri Lanka. She’s not as deeply engaged in social issues as someone like Bono. If she makes you uncomfortable, people should feel free to avoid her, but it’s probably politically worse to shop at Wal-Mart than to purchase her cd. Not excusing her for taking kind of a lame angle on the whole thing…just trying to put things in perspective.
If she makes you uncomfortable, people should feel free to avoid her, but it’s probably politically worse to shop at Wal-Mart than to purchase her cd.
Saurav, I’m not sure if your remarks were addressed to anyone specific, but my position is essentially the same as yours. I’m certainly not suggesting that her CD should be boycotted since I’ve said many times that I love her music.
The more agitated conversation here (of which I’m part) has less to do with MIA than with the LTTE in general and a former cadre member in particular.
Manish said:
I assume that’s an exaggeration, the only thing ive read along these lines was her saying that it’s ridiculous how the tigers and like groups are assigned the label ‘terrorist’ and subsequently have any of their legit issues or actions marginalized or ignored
Cicatrix said:
Her daughter, according to what we heard and saw in the movie, is roughly my age (early 20’s). That means she was about 4 or 5 when her mom died, I doubt her first hand knowledge of the situation is very different from mine at 4 living in Jaffna – nil. Her information is from her family.
You probably consider me a tamil hellbent on deflecting blame from the Tigers but this isn’t the case. Rajini’s sister was at the showing in Toronto and i found her discussion with the audience engaging and interesting. The movie itself was really enlightening, there isn’t much presented about strong tamil women like Rajini, i consider her efforts heroic. But that isn’t enough to make me believe her family’s story. Rajini was not just documenting tiger wrongdoing, she focused on the Tigers, the Government of Sri Lanka, other tamil liberation groups and the Indian ‘peacekeeping’ force. Any of those groups had motive. I’m not discounting the probability that the Tigers did it, but you are discounting the probability that any of those other groups did it. All of them had an interest in either silencing her reporting or killing her to do further damage to the tigers image among tamils.
Saurav said:
I agree with you and that’s where I see the appeal, there are at least a few generations of tamils and other ethnicities in the same situation as her.
My bad for being insensitive to the group which pioneered suicide bombings and murdered the Indian prime minister as well as hundreds of civilians. Perhaps we can check in with the Symbionese Liberation Army and see whether we’re being sufficiently sensitive to their desires.
The aims may be legit, the murders are not.
Re: the Telegraph article, it’s funny that they call her native language ‘Sri Lankan’:
I guess it makes sense to an England newspaper publishing in English 🙂
cicatrix: nope, just a general frustration with the fact that this woman’s politics on Sri Lanka aren’t serious and yet have managed to be a topic of serious discussion (in general, not just here) because she makes catchy music. I suppose it’s a process we all (including me) need(ed) to go through if we find her a charismatic artist but care about such things as human rights violations or tyranny or the such; I think I just needed to vent.
Manish: I don’t think the point Ananthan raised was about insensitivity to attacking civilians as much as to the opinion that labeling of groups and individuals as “terrorist” can and does obscure their legitimate aims, rights, etc. when it’s taken to an extreme. I don’t actually agree that expressing that opinion is all M.I.A. is doing (like cicatrix poinst to, her use of iconography and the such is at least a little irresponsible). But Ananthan’s comment points to a general problem regardless.
You’re something of a libertarian–I’m sure you appreciate how governments in India, China, and Russia (and the US) have exploited the “terrorism” label to disproportionately crackdown with disproportionate force on people and groups they didn’t like regardless of the relative morality of their ideas, tactics, or aims. It’s more and more frequently a tool for demonizing, not for engaging in a constructive debate about the ethics of it all (political, personal, or otherwise).
Yup, but in this case the label is apropos IMO.
It’s very easy for you, as a removed party, to dismiss the Tigers’s ends in their entirety because of their actions
It becomes a little more complicated for a tamil in Sri Lanka where they’ve served as the only effective barrier between tamils and the government that has treated your people brutally in the past and continues to treat them (at the least) unfairly today. That isn’t to say they deserve endless support, but how can you expect tamils to condemn and dismiss them?
Ananthan, I see where you’re comming from, and not judging a situation based on hearsay is to be commended. As is ackowledging that your experiences are limited and that family can unduly influence one’s perspective. I wish more Sri Lankans (Tamil and Sinhalese) could be as open-minded.
But I think the drawback with that, eventually, is that you sit back, paralyzed, because you don’t know who or what to believe. Skepticism is a great thing, but the Tigers have flourished in the benefit-of-the-doubt space that so many sincere expats and foreigners have granted them.
Yes, Thiranagama documented abuse by the government and other groups as well (esp IPKF, remember them?) but while the country was used to one side screaming “abuse!” about the other, having a former LTTE-member documenting LTTE abuses was pretty much unheard of.
Even now, the LTTE has claimed loudly to the international media that the SL govt refuses to bring tsunami aid to Tamil refugee camps…while Tamil refugees whisper that LTTE members planted in the camps force them to turn awayfood, or tell them the govt poisoned the food. The govt throw its hands up all too quickly and walks away…and beneath the murky stories, Tamil refugees are still starving.
No one in Sri Lanka can claim to be virtuous…the whole alphabet soup – IPKF, JVP, UNP, SLFP, LTTE – the only unifying constant is self-interest. But given the LTTE history of making lunchmeat of the very people they say they represent … it’s sad and frustrating that people when people with inside knowledge of the LTTE speak out, they are met with deafening skepticism.
I really have no interest in defending the government, because it’s always been shit. But please remember that the govt has not been a constant over the past 30 years. We had nationalistic, Trotskyite, Capitalistic, etc parties all vying for power and suceeding each other to the presidency. At which point they’d promptly reverse whatever the previous administration was doing.
The country was a confused mess after independance, and the saddest fact of all is that we werepoised to become on of the most educated, developed countries in South Asia…now all those natural and human (a 97% literacy rate in the early 80s) resources have been squandered.
No doubt the govt at a time treated the Tamils harshly….. but sometimes I’d like to point out that the govt treats everyone like shit. Especially after the LTTE threat became severe enough to declare martial law. Getting thrown in jail for breaking curfew, not having ID at all times, looking at a policeman funny – these were all reasons to get your ass in jail (with or without a beatdown) whether you were tamil OR sinhalese.
Half the time the authorities only cared for whoever had cash enough to pay them off. And please let’s not forget the fact that President Premadasa supplied the LTTE with arms to keep the war going…I know it’s supposed to be just a rumor…but it seems one can never be too cynical about politics in Sri Lanka..no matter which side you’re on.
Ananthan, I had a conversation with a Tamil nationalist friend of mine (from Toronto) a few years ago. I tried to encourage her to take a more humanistic approach and be critical in general (towards LTTE, towards the government, etc.). I’ve seen other supporters of Tamils take a human rights approach (rather than a nationalist one) to the issue.
It’s the same argument you can use on American in encouraging them to be critical of the woefully inadequate and frequently disgusting U.S. responses to the highjackings/attacks in 2001: it’s not an abandonment of the thing you beleive in and the people you want to support by holding those allegedly working on your behalf accountable. I would guess that Tamils who believe in civil rights, human rights, etc., have more values in common with people who believe in civil rights, human rights, etc., of different nationalities (e.g. Kosovar moderates) than with LTTE (if reports are to be believed…which is a fair thing to question).
One thing to start with, as a community, is to develop or plug into real, honest, on the ground perspective as to what’s going on and not being afraid to criticize people (in various ways…not always or even more most often publicly) who share your aims but not your sense of ethics or strategy –to the point where you think they might be doing more harm than good to the people on whose behalf they claim to be working. Morquendi’s political blog might be a good place to begin, although I’m too ignorant of Sri Lankan politics to vouch for it fully.
Manish, I recognize that there are different roles people need to play, and some people–many more people, probably–need to speak truth without caving in to fears about aiding and abetting some of the oppressive rhetoric/actions of institutions like the governments I mentioned. But even so, it’s important to be careful about how you go about it because you’re not just making a statement; you’re feeding into a broader cultural conversation.
For example, I wrote to one of the people organizing some Muktharan Mai protest work that I thought it was important to be concious of how the issue is and will continue to be used to feed into a “white man’s burden” narrative that’s currently used by the U.S. government to justify the Iraq War, among many other things that rely on a fundamental misreading of the relationship between Islam and terrorism /tyranny. My point was not to discourage people from critiquing a situation in which someone quite clearly had her rights profoundly and irrevocably violated by people, her local government, and her national government; it was to bring a point to the people who were doing that great work to be conscious of what they might inadvertently be feeding into. And the person I spoke to was receptive about that because she understands the Muktharan Mai issue in a broader context.
Ananthan,
the irony on this thread is that these indians are most likely ignorant of the terror the IPKF (Indian Peace Keeping Force) inflicted upon the Tamil civilian population between 1987-1990. its amusing to note how they pray terrorism in regards to the Tiger question.
as an aside, i recollect an uncle of mine, a founding member of EROS (who introduced the LTTE to the PLO), telling me how it was the IPKF who taught the SLA (Sri Lankan Army) that they could rape the Tamil women and get away with it.
to be fair, the Southern Regiments were sent back to India when they began to protest the Indian Army terror, as they very much identified with their Dravidian bretheren. it was really the Sikh Jawans that committed the atrocities.
The irony on this thread is how anonymous commenters think condemning one side’s atrocities means you can’t condemn the other. It’s amusing how they support murder out of a misbegotten team mentality, just like many Palestinians fund suicide bombers.
would it really have made a difference had i typed in “Ravi” or “Gopal” rather than “Innoncent People Killing Force”, and provided an email i could have easily created to make a more “authentic” comment? would it really have manish? cuz if it does, let me know, i can easily do it.
anyway, to the point, its interesting to note your assumption that i don’t have a bone to pick with the LTTE. i was merely pointing out how easily Indians are quick to bandy the “terrorism” word in regards to the Tiger question, yet nary a word is said about their misgivings.
I believe the IPKF was mentioned upthread. See my post, #26. It’s ironic that you didn’t bother to read all the comments before jumping in with your judgements, yaar? I’m not Indian, either.
Of course if you wish to divert our attention from the LTTE by bringing up criminal acts commited by other groups, why stop at the IPKF? I’m sure we could spend a very merry afternoon traipsing though Rwanda, Libya, Peru, El salvador, Palestine, China, Indonesia, South Africa, Lebanon…I’ll stop now for fear of carpel tunnel syndrome.
I’m sure by the end of it we can conclude that the LTTE is really not SO bad and return to our lives in Canada/US/London. Sound good?
cicatrix, the point of my initial post was to sublty draw light to the unproportionate attention that is given to LTTE “terrorism” when in comparision to the “terrorist” acts committed by the SLA & IPKF. if one were to quantify these “terrorist” acts by all parties, and put in comparison to the attention each party has received for them, you will see this GREAT disparity.
as for manish, i think my post disturbed his indian nationalist passions. which, perhaps, is confusing to me, as i conclude that a jaffna tamil and a madrasi tamil would be more prone to consider each other brothers than a madrasi tamil and a punjabi jawan. who knows, i could be wrong.
Your comment does little to disturb my ‘Indian nationalist passions.’ Blowing up the prime minister however…
that was pretty fun. good riddens to bad rubbish.
and as noted journalist anita prathap put it, “…a bunch of teenagers in sarongs and flip-flops, sent the world’s 4th largest army packing…”
I just don’t understand why the critique in these conversations is always of the Tamils funding LTTE and the Palestinians funding suicide bombers rather than the Brooklyn Israelis who push their state to create settlements or the American or Indian voters who support their governments as they run roughshod over other peoples or promote the arms trade. It’s not like public concentrations of power (i.e. governments like the U.S. or Russia or India) in foreign policy contexts are inherently more moral and in many cases accountable than concentrations of private power like the IRA or the LTTE or Al Qaeda or the Zapatistas; they’re just different things and should be critiqued with at least as much vigor in these contexts–particularly when they’ve claimed monopoly over the use of force. It’s intellectually dishonest to do otherwise.
Because the post is about M.I.A.
At least those policies are subject to public review and voting.
oh nelly…OK, I’m generally far too impatient to tackle this argument, but let me try.
the LTTE has a thorough (and ongoing) history of abusing the very people they say they represent. See a whole website about LTTE child conscription, unicef, amnesty international, and refugees international.
The LTTE refuses to be accountable to anyone, and squelches internal dissent. As an article in Japan Times mentions, “the Tigers have a vested interest in seeing the conflict continue, because they have alienated their own people and would have trouble winning open elections.” Much criticism can be levelled at Kumaratunga and the SL presidents before here, but the fact remains that Sri Lankan people elected her.
Terrorist groups and elected goverments are not just different things and it’s a fallacy of the highest order to think so. No matter how corrupt and terrible a goverment may be, it’s leaders still have the knowledge and ability to conduct the functions of society – build roads, hospitals, schools, collect taxes, etc. The leaders of a terrorist organization rise up the echelons via successful attacks. What the hell do they know of governing? Are any qualified, in any way? Especially to get a brand new country (which is what most claim they want) up and running from scratch?
Terrorist organizations should not be confused with protest movements such as Lech Walesa’s solidarnosc movement in Poland and various other movements which draw the neutral observers sympathy. As this study of conflict-resolutions notes, “The problem with the use of violent confrontation strategies is that they quickly escalate to the point where the parties’ only concerns are victory, vengeance, and self-defense.”
As an intellectually honest argument, I hope this will suffice.
Here is a opinion piece that lambasts both sides, and does a good job bringing the reader up-to-date, espcially given that “black july” is approaching.
Titled Tigers Cashing In it discusses the Tamil diaspora, and unfortunately concludes – “Thus, the situation from an ordinary Tamil point of view is quite gloomy. No political settlement seems in sight. A fierce war in which ordinary Tamils suffer greatly is being conducted relentlessly.”
so. is anyone actually going to this concert on august 7?
oooooh, even better, who wants to yell at their opponents over dinner/while drinking? comment threads come to life…i can’t wait. manish will obviously require a debating partner, L/Der me will survive. let the filling of index cards commence. 😉
yah, sorry for the detour ANNA…I want to go, but I’m feeling too old to go camp out on the great lawn at dawn, waiting to get in line for tickets. I have a funny feeling this will be impossible to get into.
cicatrix, no need for apologies! i just wanted to know whom i’ll be camping with… 😉
If you want to meet up, you can always dit-dit-dit on your mobile phone…
🙂
i was planning on sleeping out in central park from august 1st onwards 🙂
in seriousness, though, if i’m in new york, im going to try to go to this thing. it sounds like a lot of fun, even if i can’t get in, which i’m sure i won’t, because i run on both DST and QST ,and I think the effect is multiplied.
i’ve listened to another show from outside when i couldn’t get in, and it was fun enough.
i will bring cheese.
i will bring cheese.
No! Not David Hasselhoff!
MIA recently added a graphic of the Sri Lankan national flag on her website and it has the Tamil nationalists up in arms. Maybe MIA realized that one can only cash on the Tamil refugee-militant novelty for so long before the lyrics become insipid. With the Missy Elliott collabo, perhaps MIA will think beyond even the SL label and jump on the larger Desi wave cooking in the melting pot. That should stimulate more sales.
anyone else going on sunday?
Yup… I’ve yet to see her perform.
Me! I’m striking out previous plans of getting shitfaced on Saturday night. I wanne wake up in time for this one 🙂
So…did y’all go?
I’d love to know what other Sepia posters who checked it out have to say. All I’m gonna say right now is that the bleached blonde dancer (one of two. the other was her main girl Cherry who also sings backup) had daisy dukes higher and tighter than anything I’ve ever seen Jessica Simpson. Total crowd pleaser, that 🙂