October 2007
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MIA's Kala: Real World Music

by Alexander Billet
USA
September 14, 2007

The past twelve months have been anything but uneventful for MIA.  Last year, she was planning on making her new
album in the United States.  When US Customs denied her a visa though, her plans were quickly scuttled.  The
reasons were never officially stated, but when you are dealing with Maya Arulpragasam, a popular and radical MC, the
daughter of Tamil Tiger rebels, it is pretty obvious why the US balked.

So, Maya took her show on the road, to Liberia, Australia, India, and  Japan.  And rather than back down from her
militancy, she has let the experience enhance it.  While her last album, Arular, was characterized by dense sampling
and rapid-fire beats, it is the sound of each of these nations that makes Kala a pop album.  The swinging tunes of
Bollywood, slinking didgeridoo, and banging temple drums all play on the same level as samples from the Pixies,
Jonathan Richman, and the Clash.  It is a kind of musical internationalism, a chance to give a voice, however small, to
that ninety percent of the planet who are routinely ignored in western music.

She comes out of the gate swinging from the first track.  Though she has been around the world and back, it is clear
that she has shunned the role of the condescending tourist.  Instead, on "Bamboo Banga," she has taken the voice of
the street-kids and shanty-dwellers; the ones rightfully viewing the rich vacationers with disdain.  It is an intimidating
track with the memorable line, "I'm banging on the doors of you Hummer, Hummer," which seems to set the tone for
the rest of the record.

This is a recurring theme throughout the album, sometimes with the added ingredient of live ammunition in songs
like "Paper Planes" and "World Town."  "20 Dollar" is especially effective: "Do you know that cost of a.k.s / Up in Africa /
20 dollars ain't shit to you / But that's how much they are / So they gonna use the shit just to get far."

Extreme?  Yes.  So is the legalized pillage of Africa.  Not too many mainstream artists are willing to support the
arming of the people of these nations.  After all, the only other time we hear the people of Africa mentioned in music is
from the likes of Bono and Geldof, who have peddled to us the image of the helpless savage waiting to be fed by the
magnanimous west.   MIA's take is quite different.  She isn't afraid to raise the banner of “By Any Means Necessary.”

The flak doled out to her because of these ideas has not been small.  And not just for her lyrics, but for being a vocal
woman of colour.  "From day one, this has been a mad, crazy thing:  I say the things I'm not supposed to say, I look
wrong, my music doesn't sound comfortable for any radio stations or genres..." The album's best tracks confront this
head on.  Maya proves she can give it as well as take it. On "Boyz," she confidently asks, "How many, how many boys
are crazy? How many boys are raw? / How many, how many boys are rowdy? / How many start a war?"

There are a lot of differences between this album and her previous Arular.  There are no similarly catchy tunes such
as "Sunshowers" and "Galang" on Kala.  But the collision of the beats, the eclectic sounds, and Maya's own cocky,
streetwise vocals give the whole album a hypnotic quality.  The world it so irresistibly draws you into may seem
strange and harsh, but that is because the daily crimes carried out upon it go unnoticed every day.  That is this
album's biggest strength, and what makes MIA one of today's most important artists.

*****

Alexander Billet is a music journalist and activist living in Washington, DC.  He is a regular contributor to Znet and
Dissident Voice, and has also appeared in Socialist Worker, MR Zine, and CounterPunch.

His website, Rebel Frequencies, can be viewed at rebelfrequencies.blogspot.com, and he may be reached at
alexbillet@hotmail.com.