ĭuring the civil war, soldiers would put guns through holes in the windows and shoot at the school, which she notes as "fun." Her classmates were trained to dive under the table or run next door to English-language schools that, according to her, "wouldn't get shot." Arulpragasam lived on a road alongside much of her extended family and played inside temples and churches in the town. Maya attended Catholic convent schools such as the Holy Family Convent, Jaffna, where she developed her art skills-painting in particular-to work her way up her class. She has described her family as living in "big-time" poverty during her childhood but also recalls some of her happiest memories from growing up in Jaffna. Her family went into hiding from the Sri Lankan Army, and Arulpragasam had little contact with her father during this period. The first 11 years of Arulpragasam's life were marked by displacement caused by the Sri Lankan Civil War. There, her father adopted the name Arular and became a political activist and founding member of the Eelam Revolutionary Organisation of Students (EROS), a political Tamil group affiliated with the LTTE. When she was six months old, her family moved to Jaffna in northern Sri Lanka, where her brother Sugu was born. Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam was born on 18 July 1975, in Hounslow, London, the daughter of Arul Pragasam, a Sri Lankan Tamil engineer, writer, and activist, and his wife, Kala, a seamstress.
Her fourth studio album, Matangi (2013), included the single " Bad Girls", which won accolades at the MTV Video Music Awards. Maya was her best-charting effort, reaching the top 10 on several charts. Her third album Maya (2010) was preceded by the controversial single- short film " Born Free". The single " Paper Planes" from Kala reached number four on the US Billboard Hot 100 and sold over four million copies. M.I.A.'s first two albums, Arular (2005) and Kala (2007), received widespread critical acclaim for their experimentation with hip hop and electronic fusion. One of the first acts to come to public attention through the Internet, she saw early fame as an underground artist in early 2004 with her singles " Sunshowers" and " Galang".
She started out as a visual artist, filmmaker and designer in 2000, and began her recording career in 2002. was 11 years old the war had a defining influence on M.I.A.'s artistry. As a child, she experienced displacement caused by the Sri Lankan Civil War, which made the family return to London as refugees when M.I.A. and her family moved to Jaffna in northern Sri Lanka when she was six months old. Her music combines elements of alternative, dance, electronic, hip hop and world music with eclectic instruments and samples.īorn in London to Sri Lankan Tamil parents, M.I.A. Her songs contain evocative political and social commentary regarding immigration, warfare and identity in a globalised world.
(an initialism for "Missing in Acton"), is a British rapper, singer, record producer and activist. Mathangi " Maya" Arulpragasam MBE (born 18 July 1975), known by her stage name M.I.A.