M.I.A.

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

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• Afrobeat
• mixed bag
• seamless
• palatable

• refugee
• skin-tight
• Grammys
• missing in action

• stance
• mish-mash

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

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In her music and style, M.I.A. mixes fun and politics. The Sri Lankan singer is the daughter of a revolutionary and also spent much of her childhood as a refugee in England. These days, she’s one of the world’s most creative and outrageous stars. Last year, she performed in a skin-tight dress alongside Jay-Z at the Grammys...while nine months pregnant!

M.I.A. creates electronic music. She likes to include rare instruments and rhythms, though you can often dance to it.

Her music also has a message. But unlike stars like Bono, M.I.A. isn’t purely about peace. Her name comes from a military saying, “missing in action.” She supports revolutionaries in places like her home country, Sri Lanka. This upsets some people. Find out if Beren and Devan are among them.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Beren

Devan

Beren:  Have you heard the new M.I.A. album?

Devan:  Not the whole album. I saw the video for “Born Free.”

Beren:  I’ve always liked M.I.A. I thought she was pretty good at incorporating different genres and influences. She does a mish-mash of world music with ‘80s hip-hop, you know, like heavy beats.

Devan:  Yeah, dance and hip-hop and then like this world, like Afrobeat and all these things you can see her Sri Lankan roots in her music and then also her English roots from when she lived there. It’s definitely a mixed bag of things going on.

Beren:  She does it pretty seamlessly. She’s able to bring world music to a broader audience and make it palatable.

Devan:  Right. But what do you think about the recent controversy with her interview in The New York Times?

Beren:  See, I have to admit, that’s kind of made me rethink…Like, I still appreciate her music, but I think she takes this overly political stance. Then when you read the New York Times article it’s like, ah, she’s also a very smart capitalist.

Devan:  Yeah. And it also made me question how much of the writing of her own music she actually does herself, you know?

Beren:  Exactly.

Devan:  ...or if she just kind of comes in and lets other people create the music for her and says, “I like this, I don’t like this,” because I was always giving her credit for coming up with all these great ideas.

Beren:  ...when really, she might be the Sri Lankan Britney Spears.

Devan:  Yes.

Grammar Point

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Quizzes

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Lesson MP3

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