{"id":2950,"date":"2006-02-02T11:15:31","date_gmt":"2006-02-02T16:15:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com?p=2950"},"modified":"2006-02-02T11:55:08","modified_gmt":"2006-02-02T16:55:08","slug":"oh_no_its_anoth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/2006\/02\/02\/oh_no_its_anoth\/","title":{"rendered":"Oh no! It’s another M.I.A. post!"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Village Voice<\/em>\u00c2\u2019s \u00c2\u201cPazz & Jop<\/a>\u00c2\u201d supplement is out this week. It\u00c2\u2019s the only annual music survey that counts; tallying votes from 795 critics, it\u00c2\u2019s a clear statement of the prevailing wisdom in US pop criticism. Online<\/a> you can check out each critic\u00c2\u2019s list, and search to see how your favorite grime, electroclash, nerd-hop or screamo fared. So, how about the desis?<\/p>\n\n

Albums<\/strong>
\n2 – M.I.A., Arular<\/em>
\n149 – Kronos Quartet f\/ Asha Bhosle [thanks Sajit<\/a>]
\n231 – Anoushka Shankar, Rise<\/em>
\n\nSongs<\/strong>
\n29 – M.I.A, \u00c2\u201cGalang\u00c2\u201d
\n30 (tie) – M.I.A., \u00c2\u201cBucky Done Gun\u00c2\u201d
\n61 (tie) – M.I.A., \u00c2\u201cSunshowers\u00c2\u201d
\n313 (tie) – M.I.A., \u00c2\u201cBingo\u00c2\u201d\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

And, unless you count Devendra Banhart<\/a> (album: 90; song: 313) as an honorary desi (ahem<\/a>), that\u00c2\u2019s it.<\/p>\n\n

It\u00c2\u2019s also interesting to search for desis among the critics. Gauging by name, I found only two: Nikhil Swaminathan of Creative Loafing<\/a>, the Atlanta weekly, and Joseph Patel of MTV<\/a>. I don\u00c2\u2019t know either cat; for all I know Joseph may be Trini or Guyanese. He placed M.I.A. on his list of mainly Black music; Nikhil is an indie-rock cat who didn’t find room for a sista. [UPDATE: Also Geeta Dayal<\/a>! My bad. Thanks, Neha<\/a>.]\nThere\u00c2\u2019s a lot to be said about the survey. I could get on my high horse about how the cult of Kanye \u00c2\u201cCrown of Thorns<\/a>\u00c2\u201d West — #1 album, #1 song, and a slurping Christgau essay<\/a> containing gems like this:<\/p>\n\n

On the evidence, Kanye West is nothing less than the young century’s most gifted popular musician. Everything indicates a decent man who’s canny about putting his decency into artistic practice–the widespread misapprehension that the poll-topping “Gold Digger” is “sexist” is one of many proofs that he’s smarter than his critics.<\/blockquote>\n\n

— how the cult, as I was saying, must cease. We could also analyze the paucity of hip-hop overall, and discuss how much that has to do with the state of the music, and how much with the state of criticism. But those are topics for another place.<\/p>\n\n

For now, it\u00c2\u2019s enough to note that desis are punching beneath their weight. I wouldn\u00c2\u2019t call 2005 the strongest year for desi diasporic soundz, but I am surprised that the abundance of young, smart, hip desis with fresh ideas and the gift of gab hasn\u00c2\u2019t produced more than two recognized critics, at least in the US. Mutineers, what gives?<\/p>\n\n

As for the M.I.A. debates<\/a>, I\u00c2\u2019m sure all sides will find ammunition in Ms. Arulpragasam bogarting prime space in a survey that remains primarily (though not overwhelmingly) white, male and indie-oriented. I think<\/a> she\u00c2\u2019s fabulous. But as a cultural signifier<\/a>, it’s true that at least until her next album, she\u00c2\u2019s very much up for grabs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Village Voice\u00c2\u2019s \u00c2\u201cPazz & Jop\u00c2\u201d supplement is out this week. It\u00c2\u2019s the only annual music survey that counts; tallying votes from 795 critics, it\u00c2\u2019s a clear statement of the prevailing wisdom in US pop criticism. Online you can check … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2950"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2950"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2950\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}