Wyclef Jean, Cyndi Lauper, DJ Rekha and Neel Murgai performed ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ on Letterman last night (thanks, Joolz). The track’s sweet, poppish melody sounds like Maya lyrics crossed with Cornershop sitar.
And to answer your burning question: Cyndi’s 56, but she still rocks it.
I find Hollywood’s outcry around the arrest of Roman Polanski for child rape to be bizarre. We seem to carry the idea that celebrity forgives all. In the case of Maya Arulpragasam, lyrics glorifying suicide bombers are forgiven by her musical excellence and her standard-issue musician fuzzy-mindedness about politics. In her case, the argument goes, [...]
It’s a little-known fact that M.I.A.’s ‘Paper Planes‘ is a cover of the 1927 Al Jolson original, which Jolson performed in blackface.
The spoof isn’t just a video sync — someone actually recorded vocals in the style of the time. Quality!
(thanks, Joolz)
Maya Arulpragasam and Bill Maher had as sober a discussion as I’ve ever seen on Maher’s show last night. Arulpragasam talked about the civil war, the plight of Sri Lankan Tamils and the clampdown on the media. Maher pushed back gently, reminding her of the LTTE’s record of terrorism.
It wasn’t all dirgey:
Maher: Tell the public [...]
Godse, Bhindranwale, Prabhakaran
Not-dead GandhisBombay Stock ExchangeSri Lankan nationDissident TamilsExtorted TorontoniansPrabhakaran family’s political prospects
M.I.A. set designersCivilian-targeting terrorist motherfuckers
M.I.A., Kanye, Aziz Ansari, Zoe Kravitz partying at Coachella, and a clip of an M.I.A. set on Saturday. Her dancers try on lighted suits, like that famous Bollywood light bulb suit or some African version of Tron:
M.I.A. performing “Paper Planes” on the day her baby is due, briefly. Please, M.I.A. — the Grammys aren’t that important. Rest. Then straight into “Swagga Like Us”… all eyes were on M.I.A., as they are anytime she’s on the stage… Yes, we wanted M.I.A. to win, too, but we knew that wasn’t going to happen. [...]
I’ve had ‘Rain Dance’ (Malawian singer Esau Mwamwaya and Brit DJ Radioclit feat. M.I.A. chorus) on repeat the last couple of weeks. It’s much quieter than her frenetic Nigerian-Jamaican effort ‘Boyz,’ and it’s addictive.
It’s easy to be cynical about this process of easing Western listeners into Esau Mwamwaya’s music– RIYL Vampire Weekend, Ruby Suns, other [...]
Here are the two A.R. Rahman songs (with M.I.A. assist) nominated for an Oscar. Have a listen:
Slumdog Millionaire just won best screenplay at the Golden Globes. It was written by Simon Beaufoy, a miracle worker who kept the scaffolding of Q&A but stuffed it with the innards of Maximum City.
More to come, perhaps. How cool would it be if M.I.A. and A.R. Rahman shared the award for best score?
Update: Et voilà, [...]
From Jorge Luís Borges, ‘The Zahir’:
In Buenos Aires the Zahir is a common twenty-centavo coin… In Gujarat… the Zahir was a tiger… In Persia, an astrolabe that Nadir Shah ordered thrown into the sea…
In 1832, on the outskirts of Bhuj… a magic tiger… was the perdition of all who saw it… for never afterward could [...]
Slumdog Millionaire opens with a shot of slum kids running. There’s a lot of huffing and puffing in this loud, kinetic movie, which vastly outstrips its source material. Slumdog is based on Q&A, a collection of linked short shorts by Indian diplomat Vikas Swarup. He wrote it in haste, and it shows, as Q&A is [...]
M.I.A. ’suspended’ her career like John McCain ’suspended’ his campaign. Saturday night she pranced with a baby bump (thanks, Dari). That kid is going to be born with hearing damage, but at least her baby daddy probably graduated from high school.
The latest Zune software lets you skip through musical influences at high speed using a 2D Fade-o-matic interface. Nusrat and the Sabri Brothers: yes. Israeli singer Ofra Haza: mmm, maybe. But was M.I.A. really influenced by Grace Jones?
This is the Pandora music recommendation service by way of Encarta, Microsoft’s slick, CD-based encyclopedia which was superseded [...]