Makes interesting sounds and beats that are refreshing and from a Desi perspective: good

Female MC and visual artist: good

Likes white men: she does? So what, who cares?

Supports the LTTE and makes a name for herself: bad

So the good outweighs the bad? The LTTE you fucking morons!!!! You dumb bitch Maya, shut the fuck up! The issue is not lack of South Asian representation in MUSIC journalism, its lack of journalist coverage of the sad, preventable situation in Sri-Lanka. Anyone of you bloggers want to tackle this issue with insight and objectivity? MIA reads like those fucking fluroscent Palestinian scarves sooo in vogue among people who don’t give a fuck these days (hey let’s team one with with my I heart NY t-shirt). Empty, commercial, pointless no matter how good(?!) it looks.

Lux, what do you mean it doesn’t matter? It matters more than everthing, you fool. Lani from London spoke sense but none of you could handle the truth. I’d rather listen to what she has to say then some stupid pop act who doesn’t even make any sense.

Also readers, have you seen any images of dead Sinhalese children in poor areas of north Sri-lanka? Have you seen videos of Tamil children relating how they were snatched and forced to carry machine guns? Have you heard how hundreds, maybe thousands of orphaned Tsunami children were snatched and recruited into the LTTE? Do you know about the intimidation from the LTTE among Tamil communities in Toronto and London, England, forcing small businesses to fund their blood-letting? There have been over 100,000 deaths of innocents in the past 10 years in villages in Jaffna territories. THE TAMIL TIGERS ARE GUILTY OF ETHNIC CLEANSING, leave the peace-loving tolerant people of Sri-Lanka (Tamils, Sinhala, Moors, Malays and Burgers) alone. The Tamil Tigers are the primary cause of Sri-Lanka’s troubles, don’t let this bitch MIA convince you otherwise. They are thugs who don’t respect people no matter if they are Hindu Tamils, Moslems or Buddhist Sinhalese. They enjoy oppressing their women and children and their brand men who don’t follow as traitors that deserve to be tortured and assasinated.

I’m Sinhalese and live in Toronto and many Tamils agree with me. I’m glad the Sri-Lankan government is finally making a stand against this evil terror group. Also, Sri-Lanka is in no way comparable to Israel, so don’t get confused. Tamils and Sinhalese are close in race and have been marrying each other for many thousands of years before all this shit went crazy in the 1980s. Unlike caste-ridden India, Sri-Lankans don’t feel too strongly about race and we Sinhalese are proud to be a mixed race of aborigines and aryans with lots of intermarriage with Tamils too. Shilpa Poppadum, there is no answer to who was there first because, until recently, Sri-Lankans have mixed so easily for thousands of years.

is the real issue here is the apparent lack of sri lankan / south asian representation in music journalism?

what´s shocking is the total lack of knowledge any of the apparently underground music journos have on all the issues that M.I.A intentionally and unintentionally raises… i don´t totally agree with Lani´s absolute stance, but it´s nice to be able to read it…

I changed m’name just for you….

la la la la la

mwah, my sweet desis x

I have a problem with the question of who was there first because the various answers are used to justify gross wrongs. It’s not relevant to the bigger problem: war and human rights violations. Regardless of who was there first, the Sri Lankan government shouldn’t abuse Tamil civilians; nor should the LTTE attack innocents. This debate has been lively in many other Sepia threads.

As for “cute,” it’s offensive to apply that to a whole nationality–generalized statements about nationalities are often slippery slopes. Do you not see why?

Who was in Sri-Lanka first the Tamils or the Sinhalese? I get different responses each time I ask a Lankan. Sri-Lankans are really cute I don’t know why they want to fight among each other.

“Cute”? You “don’t know”? Pretty condescending. Go look it up.

You get different answers because people answer as is politically expedient. It shouldn’t matter. The communities lived relatively peacefully together for a long time before the advent of Western elements.