MusicMonday: M.I.A. and MIA.

One of my recent album purchases was Maya, the new album by M.I.A. – not to be mixed up with MIA. .

The devil is in the detail – or in this case, in the dots (and the pronunciation). 

I don’t know how many times I’ve had to point out to a friend digging through my music collection that what they had just pulled up was not an album by the British singer-songwriter/ rapper/music producer M.I.A (who is known for her Sri Lankan influences) but by the Berlin pop/rock band MIA. (who actually sing in German).

M.I.A.s real name is Mathangi “Maya” Arulpragasam. 

MIA. were once upon a time called Me in Affairs. 

(Apparently there’s also another punk band M.I.A. from the US and a Lithuanian singer Mia, but they’re not the ones whose music I know and like so much.)

Also I thought they each had three records out. But I just realized that MIA. has a 2008 album Willkommen im Club that I don’t have yet.

Here are a few favorite songs:

“Bucky Done Gun” by M.I.A. from Arular (2005)

“Paper Planes” by M.I.A. from Kala (2007)

“Born Free” by M.I.A. from Maya (2010)
Achtung! This video is not for the faint of heart.

“Machtspiele (Ich Tanz Drauf)” by MIA. from Hieb und Stechfest (2002)
Unfortunately there’s not a video for that (or my other favorite “Ekelhaftes Benehmen”); so here’s a live video from 2009.

“Ökostrom” by MIA. from Stille Post (2004)

Oh, right. This appears to be a Sony property. So apparently they don’t want anyone to share this video with their friends because they, um, I don’t know, don’t want anyone to watch it? Anyway, no embed for this clip on any websites except the ones that you then can’t watch in Germany. Someone’s loss.

“Uhlala” by MIA. from Zirkus (2006)

Of course, the same goes for this video. Sorry, can’t show you.

But what I can show you is another video by M.I.A. – so I’ll just do that. So there.

Oh, by the way, the reason why I’m using embeds for all the M.I.A. songs not from Vevo or official M.I.A. sources is because those, of course, are blocked in Germany.

Please add “to be able to watch any music video” to the list of reasons why to live in the US. I know it’s not a really important reason – I’m just saying…