Kala

The music critic Robert Christau called this album his favorite of the current century; which to me speaks a ton for this. If I didn't know that much of the stuff on this LP was sampled from other sources like Hindi film music or the Clash's iconic Straight to Hell for the biggest hit on this record, Paper Planes, I would probably have my brains blown out by the astounding brilliance of this. Of course, choosing what to sample, how to do it and the vast influences that this record shows makes it a reasonable listen. There are many catchy songs like the opener Bamboo Banga or Jimmy but I run into the conundrum that unlike say, a self contained rock band that tries to make it's own music, there are multiple purveyors in this.

To me, this is a great album but NOT solely due to M.I.A. . It owes it's success to all the sampled segments, be it from Bollywood or rock. Indirectly speaking, it's a record made great by contributions of a large number of people.

Coming to the lyrics, I am no expert but I found her delivery to be alright even though the lyrics themselves might not be as biting. Again, taking the example of the breakthrough single Paper Planes, the song, great it might be, it's lyrics speak much less than what Strummer's delivery did in the original. Again, it's utimalely somewhat subjective how close a person interprets a given set of lyrics, so someone else might disagree with me. Either case, I found it to be great album though I honestly do not know what would have made it excellent. I have only limited experience in listening to this genre of music, which maybe inhibits me in a certain way.

Born in Hounslow, raised in her family home of Sri Lanka, and then on the run in India, Mathangi 'Maya' Arulpragasam's music is as variegated as would be expected. It's mostly coming from London and The Bronx, but there are still liberal samplings of Eastern ethnic music, both purist and populist. M.I.A. (which sometimes stands for Missing In Action) is very influenced by her Tamil father's militant past in Sri Lanka, and this uppity vibration is injected into her music, in both serious and comic ways. Maya's also a painter and graffiti artist. Look at her website through sunglasses!

This disc was mostly recorded in Chennai, India, and it shows. M.I.A. was holed up in a Bollywood studio, and so she was doubtless free to sample real live players, with an emphasis on booming *dhol *drummers. The whole album is churning with diced-up audio debris, Maya rapping sullenly and dangerously across a remarkably kinetic soundstage. She's got the tone just right, between hardcore political critique and gleefully stupid wordplay. She's nimble in delivery, and in the penning of the lines themselves.

The opening "Bamboo Banga" tightens the knot with poised tension, constricting as its pulsing beats build, hinting at Jonathan Richman's "Roadrunner", and full of her usual self-referencing lyrics. The layers mount up, with a freaky new element introduced at 20 second intervals. "Bird Flu" is packed with deranged chorus vocals, packing a savage punch. The single "Boyz" comes over like a crazed adult nursery rhyme, then she cuts to Indo-Japanese disco cheese (in a reggae stylee) for "Jimmy", a cover of an actual 1982 Bollywood movie number. Fancy some Algerian* rai synth worms? "Hussel" has plenty. Meanwhile, the pretty unique "Mango Pickle Down River" mixes Aboriginal *didgeridu with early Public Enemy, complete with manic child rapping. Sometimes, the album sound is snipped down to one or two elements, at others, it's milling with a mashed-up sample smörgåsbord. With this second album, M.I.A. is moving at a startling rate...