When I first heard about M.I.A., the Sri Lankan Tamil rapper from London, it was in 2004 ago amidst the buzz about her forthcoming debut album Arular. I was instantly intrigued — a Sri Lankan musician being featured in Pitchfork? What was her style? Was I going to like it? I wasn’t born in Sri Lanka, a beautiful island with a turbulent political past and present, but most of my extended family still lives there. M.I.A. spent a lot more time there than I did, but her hybrid upbringing in Sri Lanka and London combined with a musical background that included support from Justine Frischmann and Peaches assured me that I was going to connect with her sound.

I instantly took to M.I.A.’s music, which incorporates as many far-flung styles as possible from Bollywood disco to Brazilian baile to Jamaican dancehall and more. But her lyrics puzzled me — sometimes they sounded like nonsense, sometimes they sounded like they were supposed to be politically charged. But I didn’t hear a cohesive agenda or message, beyond, “this is underground, yo!” I knew she was making a lot of references to the Sri Lankan civil conflict, but I couldn’t tell whether her references told a story or not. There’s no doubt, though, that her music, imagery and media interviews have attracted mainstream attention to the country of Sri Lanka, and have publicized her experience of Sri Lanka’s civil war based on an upbringing that took her from Britain to Sri Lanka to India and back again to Britain as a refugee.

Messages of Conflict
M.I.A. has proudly positioned herself in numerous media interviews as an artist motivated by her background as a refugee of Sri Lanka’s decades-old civil conflict. In her music and associated imagery, M.I.A. drops references to her life story, political ties, and other minority stories to straddle a hybridized cultural and political identity that subverts and rejects mainstream Western narratives of gender and politics. She’s forged a complicated identity for herself as both a cross-cultural pop musician and political spokesperson for the Tamil people of Sri Lanka, and she has explicitly acknowledged her power to educate people about the conflict. By scanning music blog postings across the web, it is clear that she is an influential disseminator of information, not just music, to audiences (Bennet, Harthun, Starbury).

She’s recently gained enthusiastic acclaim in the world of music, winning album of the year from Rolling Stone and garnering nominations for both a Grammy and an Oscar in 2009. But even her early collaborations with Philadelphia-based producer Diplo from 2004 and her first album from 2005 were already inviting questions. In March of 2005, Scott Plagenhoef wrote in Pitchfork that “M.I.A.’s detractors claim her flirtations with terrorism and revolutionary politics reveal the biggest case of sufferer’s envy since Joe Strummer but little depth of thought.” Plagenhoef asked, “But if the latter is true, so what? … An argument can and has been made that her political lip service is unique enough to get those topics onto your tongue or into your brain, prodding listeners to at least examine them.”

I can’t say I agree with Plagenhoef’s sentiment that raising a topic is more important than what is said about the topic. But then, I grew up with the topic in question and have been hearing about the death tolls for over a decade. When I was five, my family spent our summer in Sri Lanka, arriving in time for a series of ethnically-charged riots that perpetrated horrific violence against Tamils in the city of Colombo. One day, I saw the shop across the street from my grandmother’s house being attacked with torches by a shouting mob. One of my older cousins, vibrating in her fury, wanted to throw rocks at the crowd around the smoldering building.

Later, my mother explained that it was not the local residents of my grandmother’s neighborhood, but a traveling gang who had destroyed the Tamil shop. We didn’t go back to Sri Lanka for another eight years. I’m ethnically Sinhalese, from the roughly 70 percent majority that dominates the country, while M.I.A. is Tamil and a member of the next largest ethnicity on the island at about 20 percent. So in the mainstream Western media’s understanding of the conflict, it’s ostensibly our peoples who are at war against each other. Religion is often casually thrown into the labeling too, as in “Sinhalese Buddhists” versus “Tamil Hindus.” Of course it’s far more complicated than a simple case of ethnic conflict, but more on that later.

One of M.I.A.’s acknowledged influences is her largely absentee father, who was a member of a Tamil separatist group historically aligned with internationally proscribed terrorist group the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). M.I.A’s art school past informs her self-created album, video and live show art, which features tigers, tanks, palm trees, and other symbols of the Sri Lankan conflict. The tiger imagery is commonly interpreted as a nod to the LTTE, the only Tamil separatist group to feature a tiger in their name. When asked about these visual references in one interview, M.I.A. responded, “How come people are allowed to say M.I.A. equals a tiger print shirt equals suicide bombing? If anyone else wears a tiger print shirt, it means nothing. Converse has put out a tiger print shoe and I wore it in my video and that means terrorism” (Cosyns).

This is arguably a disingenuous way to avoid explaining the significance of the reference, as M.I.A. is clearly a politically engaged musician and performer. A tiger print or image, situated within the rest of her visual symbols, is hard to accept as signifying “nothing,” although the significance is not necessarily positive. For example, one of her videos features children dancing in front of a tiger, which could be interpreted as a reference to child soldier recruitment, known to have been practiced by the LTTE. But M.I.A. has declined to acknowledge any signification at all — and to what end? I still don’t understand.

Another Sri Lankan rapper named DeLon has revived the controversy through a YouTube video remixing her popular single Paper Planes, juxtaposing violent imagery from the LTTE bombings and other violent acts with images of MIA performing and posing. His rhymes over the melody ask why tiger imagery is so common in her works if she doesn’t support the LTTE. M.I.A. has dismissed his video as “self-promotion” and her label Interscope Records has served DeLon with a cease-and-desist, claiming the video endangers “M.I.A.’s reputation as a freedom fighter” (Starbury).

Plagenhoef’s argument back in 2005 was that as a musician, M.I.A. should not need to explain why her art contains references to not only the conflict generally but the LTTE specifically. Today, it is much harder to make the case that M.I.A.’s references to terrorism and revolutionary politics do not need to be interrogated for deeper meaning, as she’s become the most prominent Sri Lankan in mainstream media and has also identified herself as “being the only Tamil…in the Western media,” seeing it as a “great opportunity to … bring forward what’s going on in Sri Lanka” (M.I.A.). In the same interview, she states, “I’ve turned into the only voice for the Tamil people…the twenty percent minority in my country.” Understanding the importance of her role requires visiting the Sri Lankan civil conflict.

The Sri Lankan Civil Conflict
Sri Lanka is a small island country with a bloody history. A civil conflict along ethnic lines has slowly emerged and intensified since the country gained independence from British rule in 1948. During British rule, a strategy of promoting English-speaking Tamils to leadership positions within the society created state, commercial, educational and other professional sectors that were dominated by Tamils (Bowen). In the wake of independence, a Sinhalese nationalist movement combined with laws intended to rectify imbalances created by British policies resulted in widespread discrimination against Tamils, and inspired the Tamil separatist movements of the 1970s (Bowen).

Since then, most of the distinct Tamil movements were destroyed by the LTTE through assassinations of Tamil political leaders who participated in the democratic process or through consumption into the LTTE, who then turned to suicide bombing and other violent means to make their case. The Sri Lankan government attempted to create local power sharing structures to entice the LTTE to lay down arms and transition into a legitimate political organization, but with no success. Today, the war is between the Sinhalese-dominated majority government and the LTTE. By their account, the Tigers are fighting for regional autonomy for the Tamil population. By the Sri Lankan government’s account, which is now dominated by Sinhalese nationals, the LTTE has been terrorizing the country for decades and needs to be destroyed if the country is to move forward.

According to a report from the Council on Foreign Relations, the LTTE is blamed for a dozen high-level assassinations and over two hundred suicide attacks (Bhattacharji). The same report estimates that that the LTTE has murdered approximately 5,000 people just since 2006. And in recent months, the LTTE is accused by the Associated Press among others of using Tamil civilians as human shields and firing at civilians as they flee the area (Mackenize, Nessman).

While one front of Sri Lanka’s civil war is being waged on the ground between the national army and the LTTE, another front has been intensifying in a theater with a much larger scope—the media. In part due to its small size and minor role in the global economy, Sri Lanka has never been heavily or consistently covered by international media services (Gabony). But another factor has been the Sri Lankan government’s hostile attitude towards journalists, both international and domestic, which has made it impossible to report from the frontlines. Reports are instead confined to a few sparse details and casualty numbers reported by spokespeople for the LTTE and the government, whose reports almost always directly contradict each other (Buerk 2008). The BBC, the only media source with significant coverage of the conflict is reviled on both sides for its bias in favor of the opposing side (Gabony). With so many lies and half-truths it is near impossible to discern the full story.

M.I.A. and the Genocide Movement
It is into this contentious space that M.I.A. offered her assessment of the conflict. On January 28, 2009, M.I.A. appeared on the Tavis Smiley show, an LA-based PBS news magazine with a national audience and online distribution. Given the opportunity to educate the primarily US-based viewers of the show, the majority of whom know little to nothing about the conflict, M.I.A. spoke extensively about the plight of the Tamil people in Sri Lanka, repeatedly referring to the war as a “genocide.” She stated that from the time that she left the country to now, “there’s been a systematic genocide” and that “Tamils make up twenty percent of the country and they’re getting wiped out.” In another interview with The Daily Beast two days later, she calls the situation “systematic genocide, ethnic cleansing” and compares it to Nazi-Germany. In a recent assessment of that claim by the New York Times, Thomas Fuller writes that “M.I.A.’s claims that the government is carrying out a genocide against Tamils place her on the outer fringe of opinion about the conflict.” In the same article Fuller quotes Yolanda Foster of Amnesty International, who observes, “The Tamil Tigers have a long history of child recruitment, hostage taking, forcing civilians to the front lines. It’s complicated to assign blame.”

M.I.A. is not alone in assessing the conflict as a genocide; newly formed Tamil groups in the diaspora have initiated efforts to reframe the conflict as a genocide. Significantly, high profile efforts to have the conflict officially recognized in the US and in India date back to around the same time as her interview. The group Tamils Against Genocide has been in existence at least since August of 2008, when their legal representative Bruce Fein contributed a commentary to the Washington Times comparing the Sri Lankan conflict to Nazi-Germany and the Bosnian genocide of the 90s. NGOs have been formed in the United States and in India to push the genocide framing through both media and legal channels, with most of the activity taking place in January through March of 2009.

The Genocide Movement Timeline

• August 20th 2008 – Bruce Fein, legal representative for Tamils Against Genocide, publishes commentary in the Washington Times. The commentary compares the Sri Lankan conflict to Nazi-Germany and the Bosnian genocide of the 90s and introduces Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka’s Defense Secretary, as a US citizen who should be investigated for war crimes.
• January 26th 2009 – In India, Dr. Ramadoss, founder and president of the Pattali Makkal Katchi party, a Tamil political party in the Indian government, gives a press conference urging the Indian government to recognize Tamil Eelam as the only solution for the Sri Lankan Tamil population.
• February 5th 2009 – Tamils Against Genocide files charges with the US attorney general charging both Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and Sri Lanka’s Army Commander, Sarath Fonseka, for genocide, war crimes and torture against Tamils in Sri Lanka.
• February 9th 2009 – Mr. Fein publishes a second commentary in the Boston Globe.
• February 13th 2009 – Dr. Ramadoss describes the conflict as “a clear case of genocide” of the Tamil population.
• February 14th 2009 – A new NGO announced in India called Indians Against Genocide
• February 20th 2009 – Tamils Against Genocide holds a genocide rally in Washington DC.

Interrogating the Genocide Claim
Genocide is defined by the UN as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.” There are significant numbers of Tamils living in Sri Lanka in state-controlled areas without danger. Colombo, the largest city in Sri Lanka, is populated by every ethnic group in the country. Daily life is peaceful and involves much mixing between the groups. In a response to M.I.A.’s interview, Dr. Palitha Kohona, Foreign Secretary for the government of Sri Lanka, notes, “In Sri Lanka, fifty-four percent or more of the Tamil population does not live in the areas controlled by the Tamil Tigers. They live in the south, in and around Colombo, [in areas] under government control.” At this time, the majority of Tamils who were initially part of the LTTE are now participating in building a political process in the East and the North with the Sri Lankan government, belying the claim of widespread discord between the two ethnic groups. The Mackenzie Institute in Toronto which studies political instability and terrorism writes, “Genocide is not happening in Sri Lanka…. Anybody who takes the charge seriously betrays a highly annoying ignorance about the state of affairs between Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).”

The Sri Lankan government is by no means blameless. It has been heavily criticized for its lack of transparency, hostility towards media, and breaches of human rights. Currently, as tens of thousands of civilians are trapped in the conflict zone, reporters, aid agencies, and humanitarian efforts are banned from entering the area (“last Tamil Tiger town”). The Sri Lankan government claims this is because they cannot guarantee anyone’s safety, but such secrecy is inexcusable. The Sri Lankan military, too, has a lot to answer for in the conflict—in the past, both the LTTE and the Sri Lankan military were accused of engaging in abductions, extortion, conscription, and the use of child soldiers (Bhattacharji).

The Final Countdown
After an aborted 2002 peace treaty during which the LTTE rearmed, the army has launched a no-holds barred attempt to destroy the LTTE once and for all. Down to the final months, atrocities are being perpetrated left and right by everyone involved. According to the BBC, the UN High Commissioner of Human Rights Navi Pillay has described the level of civilian deaths as “truly shocking,” and called on the two warring sides to suspend hostilities immediately. The Sri Lankan government refuses to pull back, fearing that as soon as they do, the LTTE will immediately re-arm, as they have repeatedly done. Neither side will let up, which leaves the trapped Tamil civilians nowhere to go but to the grave. We also have no confirmed numbers about how many people are caught up in the fighting, since all numbers come from either the government or the LTTE media machine.

So what do we call this situation? I call it a futile tragedy of epic proportions. I don’t know if M.I.A. is aligned with the LTTE’s objectives, but I do know I am with her in wanting the world to protest the deaths of innocent people, Tamil and Sinhalese both. Sri Lanka is searching for a way to end the conflict permanently, but there is no easy solution here. Suspending hostilities means the LTTE can recover and keep spreading violence through suicide bombs and other terrorist means. Continuing the assault means that civilians in the war zone keep losing their lives. But a genocide? This is not a term to be taken lightly, overused or misapplied. I want the international community to know and care about what is happening in Sri Lanka, but not by framing it as
something it is fundamentally not. Diluting the meaning of the word borders on an immoral act by diminishing the true genocides taking place, ones the world has already turned away from and populations who urgently need international intervention.

Do I think M.I.A. is a terrorist? I seriously doubt it. But I think she is irresponsible with her words through her passion for her people. I want M.I.A. to choose her words as carefully as her beats. Give up a little of that swagger in favor of a more nuanced and historically accurate representation of the Sri Lankan conflict.

Works Cited
Bennet, Miles. “M.I.A. Denies Claims That She Supports Terrorist Groups.” Baller Status. N.p. 8 Aug. 2008. Web. 23 Feb. 2009.
<http://www.ballerstatus.com/article/news/2008/08/5238/>.
Bhattacharji, Preeti. “Backgrounder: Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (aka Tamil Tigers) (Sri Lanka, separatists).” CFR, Council on Foreign Relations. 10 Feb. 2009. Web. 24 Feb. 2009.
Bowen, John R. “The Myth of Global Ethnic Conflict.” Journal of Democracy. National Endowment for Democracy and the Johns Hopkins University Press, 7.4 (1996) 3-14. Project Muse. Web. 23 Feb. 2009.
Buerk, Roland. “Numbers game clouds Sri Lankan war.” BBC News. BBC, 21 Mar. 2008. Web. 23 Feb. 2009.
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7307349.stm>.
Cosyns, Simon. “‘I may be a bit mouthy…but I’m no terrorist.’” The Sun. 31 Oct. 2008. LexisNexis Academic. Web. 22 Feb. 2009.
DeLon. “M.I.A. Paper Planes Diss.” Ceylon Records, 4 Aug. 2008. Web. 22 Feb 2008. <http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5604080449246618908>.
du Lac, J. Freedom. “M.I.A.’s World Tour de Force.” Washington Post. The Washington Post Company, 21 Aug. 2007. LexisNexis. 23 Feb. 2009.
“English media’s coverage on Lankan issue criticised.” Press Trust of India. 14 Feb. 2009. InfoTrac OneFile. Web. 22 Feb. 2009.
Fein, Bruce. “FEIN: A Genocide Inquiry?” Washington Times. The Washington Times LLC, 20 Aug. 2008. Web. 23 Feb. 2009.
<http://washingtontimes.com/news/2008/aug/20/a-genocide-inquiry/>.
Fein, Bruce. “Genocide in Sri Lanka.” Boston Globe. NY Times Co., 15 Feb. 2009. Web. 23 Feb. 2009.
<http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2009/02/15/genocide_in_sri_lanka/>.
Fuller, Thomas. “The Dissonant Undertones of M.I.A.” New York Times. 10 Feb 2009. Web. 23 Feb. 2009.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/11/world/asia/11mia.html>.
Gill, Harjant. “On the Significance of Salting and Peppering Mangoes.” Metapedia. Georgetown University, n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2009. <http://www.metapedia.com/wiki/index.php?title=Harjant>.
Harthun, Jon. “M.I.A. and the art of terrorism.” Three Imaginary Girls. N.p. 7 Aug. 2008. Web. 23 Feb. 2009.
<http://www.threeimaginarygirls.com/blogentry/2008aug/miaandtheartofterrorism>.
Kohona, Palitha. Interview by Tavis Smiley. Tavis Smiley. KCET, 28 Jan. 2009. Web. 22 Feb. 2009.
<http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/video/flv/generic.html?s=tavi08s1ddeq6f6>.
“LS members seek govt intervention to end strife in Lanka.” Press Trust of India. 13 Feb. 2009. InfoTrac OneFile. Web. 22 Feb. 2009.
Mackenzie, John. “Enough Already with the Genocide Talk.” The Mackenzie Institute. n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2009.
<http://www.mackenzieinstitute.com/2009/genocide-talk020609.htm>.
M.I.A.. Interview by Tavis Smiley. Tavis Smiley. KCET, 28 Jan. 2009. Web. 22 Feb. 2009.
<http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/video/flv/generic.html?s=tavi08s1ddeq6f6>.
Nessman, Ravi. Interview by Tavis Smiley. Tavis Smiley. KCET, 18 Feb. 2009. Web. 22 Feb. 2009.
<http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/video/flv/generic.html?s=tavi08s1ddeq6f6>.
Plagenhoef, Scott. “M.I.A.: Arular.” Pitchfork. Pitchfork Media, Inc. 22 Mar. 2005. Web. 23 Feb. 2009.
<http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/20218-arular>.
“Ramadoss: Tamil Nadu Parties should pressurize Indian Government to recognize Eelam.” TamilNet. 26 Jan. 2009. Web. 23 Feb. 2009. <http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=28147>.
Starbury, Allen. “M.I.A. Accused Of Supporting Terrorists By Sri Lankan Rapper.” Baller Status. N.p. 6 Aug. 2008. Web. 23 Feb. 2009. <http://www.ballerstatus.com/article/news/2008/08/5221/>.
Tamils Against Genocide. Website. Tamils Against Genocide. N.p. n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2009. <http://www.tamilsagainstgenocide.org/>.
“Timeline: Sri Lanka.” BBC News. BBC, 6 Jan. 2009. Web. 24 Feb. 2009. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/country_profiles/1166237.stm>.
Touré. “M.I.A. Goes to War.” The Daily Beast. RTST, Inc., 30 Jan. 2009. Web. 24 Feb. 2009. <http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-01-30/mia-goes-to-war/>.
“Troops ‘at last Tamil Tiger town.’” BBC News. BBC, 24 Feb. 2009. Web. 24 Feb. 2009. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7907282.stm>.
United Nations. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, 12 Jan. 1951. Web. 23 Feb. 2009. <http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/p_genoci.htm>.

Anderson’s first hint at this path is in The Royal Tenenbaums, where in a flashback, we see Margot and Richie run away to live in a museum, a reference to the lovely book From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler that enchanted my sister and I when we went to see it in the theatre.

What exactly do we call this trend? It’s new, no other generation has gone through a phase exactly like this. We are reliving/re-engaging with our childhoods through new media interpretations of old childhood experiences. Sesame Street turned 40 last week, and Facebook was there to host our memorializing (but ephemeral) clip-fest. Our past is our present.

Yes, other generations have experienced the return of the past, as the 70′s had their comeback and before that the 60s and before that…. But what’s different about that is that the pop music that came back into fashion, the clothes, the hairstyles and the idols, these are markers of adulthood for most people, the process of coming of age. It’s more an exercise in reliving a heady period of taking chances and maturation to immerse yourself in retro.

But our childhoods are indisputably back and taking center stage in our daily lives, and not necessarily through a reinterpretation for our children. Even before Sesame Street’s 40th anniversary, Wonder Showzen has already done its best to de-sacredize (desecrate isn’t working for me) the Sesame Street lessons and songs we grew up taking as gospel. Our childhood objects are no longer only the ken of children. Will this affect our relationship to childhood objects today?

My guess is no–I don’t watch Dora the Explorer, or Caillou, or any of the anime shows that seem to dominate children’s programming today. But will today’s children just keep holding onto their childhood idols as they age? That’s a better question. I’m not sure, today’s media cycle is speedy and fitful, longevity and endurance seems an unlikely by-product. But it’s the collision of that culture with Anderson’s Long Tail that makes me wonder.

This is what I wrote in KQED’s Mixtape back in April of 2008:

“Heartbeat” – No Longer At Ease, Nneka

It completely stumps me that Nneka did not find worldwide acclaim with her 2005 debut release Victim of Truth, but if first single “Heartbeat” is any indication, it sounds like her forthcoming release No Longer At Ease may just do the trick. The stuttering chorus, trip hop-influenced beats and driving bassline all serve Nneka’s insistent vocals, delivering a passionate plea for global compassion. Nneka’s unique brand of globalized neo soul is fed by her Nigerian roots and subsequent transplatation to Germany. If you stop by her MySpace page, don’t leave without listening to “Suffri,” another standout from the new album which was released on April 25, 2008.

Nneka’s gearing up to put out her third album, and I think my prediction is finally going to come true — the crowd was small but completely attentive and enthusiastic — except for the laggard few still munching on the obligatory $12 purchase to get seats (Joe’s Pub is weird), who Nneka acknowledged with a “bon appetit!” Every song had been reworked from the studio version with new beats, she played quite a few new ones (all outstanding, none retreads), and her onstage passion for her songs and her cause was electric. As for her pipes and musicality? Totally flawless live.

Turns out this was Nneka’s debut US gig tonight, and I’m so glad I got a chance to be there for it. She’s jamming with The Roots tomorrow and a week from tomorrow at the Highline Ballroom, and stopping in SF at Cafe du Nord Nov 11. Don’t miss it.

I’m here in Paris for three weeks, in the city of the spectacle. Everywhere I turn to look, there are splendid sights to be savored — the grand boulevards, the graceful buildings carved from pierre de taille, the dynamic crowds of Parisians and visitors who flow through the streets in endless streams. And for a little while longer, there is a new sound added to the hum of Paris – Michael Jackson songs busting out from bars and clubs, compact cars, and cheap boomboxes.

I was in an intimate and thankfully cheap bar called le Cameleon the night (my night, afternoon in LA) that Michael Jackson died. I was sitting with friends, chatting about anything and everything. We sat back as the bartender cleaned up the last round from the table, and almost casually said, “Michael Jackson est mort.” We all blinked, looked around uncertainly, gave a chuckle and said, “Are you joking? No? Oh.”

The news had a palpable, visceral impact. On me, as I thought, it’s happened, finally, nothing surprising about it, but still shocked into sadness. On my friends, one who sat back in a combination of horror and protest, instantly in deep mourning for a childhood hero, the other who took the “he’s a pedophile, who cares?” approach. On the city, as people poured out of clubs and bars into the streets, a ragged chorus from “Bad” raising in one corner, and few vestigial dance moves from “Thriller” in another.

All night and all day and all night again, Paris has performed a ritual of mourning they’ve become intimately familiar with in the wake of internationally felt tragedies that have taken place here, the most recent perhaps being Princess Diana’s death in a tunnel near the Eiffel Tower. Michael Jackson’s life is being memorialized throughout the city as Parisians and tourists alike unite in remembering and celebrating the life and works of Michael Jackson. We are all eulogizing him in a spontaneous citywide, worldwide act.

To the people who don’t understand why so many of us mourn? I know there are critical pieces to be written about the spectacle his life became, his warped perspective, bizarre habits, and the crumbling shambles of his lifestyle. And I’m sure we’ll see more written on the fan mentality (even though there are many different types of fans and levels of engagement with celebrities) and about the toxicity of an entertainment industry that warps children into black holes of insecurity and self-destruction.

But for those of us who have embraced music with our gut and our brain, and who have built up a soundtrack of pop music that has shaped our childhoods, adolescences and adult lives, Michael Jackson may as well be part of our DNA. And his brilliant musical talent was augmented by a consummate showmanship. The snarls, the fierce, fiery gaze, the legendary dance moves, and the almost inhuman striving of his performances all brought us closer to him. In those shows, he gave everything he had to his audiences, and we were always left begging for more.

Saul Williams even brought out his daughter to accompany him on List of Demands, which was entirely awesome although I didn’t get a photo, you can see it on Youtube.

I really wish that someone had posted video from earlier in the evening, which had some amazing beatbox and vocal only songs.

While Japanese popular culture has already become an integral part of American youth culture (Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Pokemon, whatever’s next), most of the rest of Asia has been shut out up to now. Also, Japanese pop stars haven’t broken through (not for lack of trying) in film or music. J-pop, as it’s known, is still mainly an Asia-continent and diaspora trend, with little to no mainstream attention in the US. K-pop, as you can probably suss out, is the Korean pop music scene, and in recent years, has been dominated by the girl group Wonder Girls.

The Wonder Girls has a nearly three year history that hews closely to the script for a girl group—formed through auditions, introduced by MTV, lost one member, under the aegis of a male producer and his talent agency. They are veterans of three seasons of a reality show, and their fame has so far spread to Thailand, the Philippeanes, and France at the very least.

Two videos encapsulate their appeal and commercial packaging perfectly. Their first hit features the quintet, first in the requisite plaid Catholic schoolgirl skirts on a schoolbus. Their dance sequences are super simple and easy to imitate, and the video features transformation into superheroes. The verses are in Korean, and the chorus in English.

The second video tells the iconic girl group origin story, in which they go from backup singers for a male star to being the breakout act on their own, undergoing Supreme-style makeovers along the way. Again, Korean verses and a chorus in English make for a potent combination, this time, with the “retro-nuevo modern-day Motown” sound made a worldwide sensation by Amy Winehouse, Adele and others. It’s also a more grown up style and sound, as befitting their age.

They’re about to hit the States in a big way, as part of the upcoming Jonas Brothers tour of North America. Which mean that this group of mostly 19 and 20 year olds are about to be presented to hoards of tween girls for idolatry and hysteria, woo. MTV is pushing them through their various concerns, including MTV Iggy, which is their new site for hybridized global youth culture. Another marketing tactic is using Perez Hiton’s website to introduce them as a new trendsetting group. Hilton doesn’t say he’s shilling the group, but the few K-pop posts make it pretty clear that he is.

I was fascinated by a few things about this group—one, their cultural products. The songs are pitch-perfect pop, but the added challenge of language barriers makes it a modern pop conundrum. Latin stars have crossed over with English-language albums, but have been able to retain a Latin flavor to their sound and style. In the case of the Wonder Girls, their early bubblegum pop stylings so popular in Asia have been replaced by the more sophisticated global retro sound—but still stripped down to a very simple structure. Their songs are half titled in English and half in Korean. The English choruses are simple and easy to pick up for non-English speakers, and I’m sure they’ll be putting out English-language versions of their songs for the North American tour. The simple visual signifier of difference will always be there in that it is a group of five Korean girls. In some ways, this is also a perfect update of the Supremes, replacing the black girls with Asian, updating a sense of Otherness for the new global environment.

The videos display many of the visual signifiers of pop and the common themes of friendship and transformation so essential to appealing to the tween/teen audiences. I know next to nothing about Korean culture, so I’m not able to see if Korean cultural themes are evident in their songs and videos, but I’ll be interested to see if any are incorporated in the future in a way that is evident to non-Koreans if they are a success in the States. The group has also received Chinese language lessons as well, so will the Wonder Girls become a true worldwide sensation with versions of their songs charting in different region based on the language they’re sung in? Curious.

Freeway
Download audio file (freeway.mp3)
My favorite out of the bunch, but the vocals were recorded on a $2 computer microphone from the 90s. Maybe a little too long. Jon made the beats.

Whale
Download audio file (whale.mp3)
TOO LONG. But my first song ever, so I’m attached to it.

The Fourth Wave
Download audio file (the_fourth_wave.mp3)
Decent melody, nice beats, unmentionable vocals recorded on the aforementioned $2 mic.

Get off the Bus
Download audio file (get_off_the_bus.mp3)
I dunno, it’s a little weird, right? The vocals are rough and the beat is a tad slow. The end of it is a nice jam though.

Cocktail Party
Download audio file (cocktail_party.mp3)
Ok, I actually really like this one.

Carousel
Download audio file (carousel.mp3)
The beat was supposed to be a placeholder. Was told the song was ok “until the homeless guy started singing,” ha!

A Dream
Download audio file (a_dream.mp3)
Creepy! $2 mic vocals.

Credits

SwingFlicker by metamorphmuses
accordeon_16 by junggle
Yawning by jackstrebor
ExcessiveExposure by acclivity
angdrone by disparition
Medley by Harry Champion
antique phone – manually operated by FreqMan
group_laugh_long_exaggerate by thanvannispen
Factory Girl by therouanne
bell crowd laughter by cognito perceptu
escdrone by disparition
Drumline Ditty by JCambs1990
F.S. 1 fishing reel by mike campbell
bowl_struck by suburban grilla
camera_shutter_03 by Corsica_S
DSLR_Three_Cliks by Benboncan
cranktoy4 by UncleSigmund
TV_Static by Gaiamuse
Approx 850 – Enthusiast Audience by lonemonk
25-donetsk-announcement-russian-ballet by Bram
Lonesome Mama Blues by Markels Orchestra
WW2AirplaneFlyover by daveincamas
Electricity and Progress by Thomas Edison

An astronaut movie more like Solaris and nothing like Apollo 13.

Why: A great scifi plot, Sam Rockwell, an amazing actor who has so far skimmed slightly under the radar, and Kaya Scodalerio from Skins, my favorite show from 2008.

Light Boxes

A novel by Shane Jones about a war waged by a group of balloonists against the month of February.

Why: It’s about a war. Waged by balloonists. Against the month of February! And Jesse Ball has good things to say, who wrote the lovely Samedi the Deafness.

Faintheart

A romantic comedy set in the world of battle re-enactments, about an irresponsible guy who has to shape up in order to win back his wife.

Why: Battle re-enactments and love. And Ewan Bremner!

Florence and the Machine

Her debut album should be out this year on Island.

Why: Her single Dog Days are Over is basically a spiritual experience, and she plays with MGMT, who put out my favorite album from 2008.