MIA, Goldcoast bound, speaks for Tamil refugees

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 January 2013, 00:05 GMT]
Jaffna born music phenom, Maya Arulpragasam (popularly known as MIA), called the "the most provocative pop star of her age," by the British Guardian, and who played a big role in raising the plight of Tamil refugees, again spoke out for the Tamil asylum seekers in Australia as she landed in the Gold Coast, near Brisbane Australia today to join The Chemical Brothers as one of the headline acts at the Summafieldayze music festival, reports from Australia said. "You know, it's really difficult to work out the future of a minority group [Eezham Tamils] that is considered disposable. Can you just let them in? It's a big enough country....I don't think it's about isolating those people. It's about embracing them because that's the future," MIA was quoted as saying in a local paper.
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MIA writes theme music for Assange's Russian talk show

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 April 2012, 01:58 GMT]
Music industry reports say Maya Arulpragasam (popularly known as MIA), the Jaffna born music phenom, has written the theme music for the new talk show hosted by Julian Assange, the Wikileaks founder to debut on Tuesday on the Russian network. "Mr. Assange has taped 12 episodes of the show, “The World Tomorrow,” according to the statement, with “an eclectic range of guests, who are stamping their mark on the future: politicians, revolutionaries, intellectuals, artists and visionaries,” according to the press release posted in the Wikileaks website.
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MIA tweets on Channel-4, creates wide war-crimes publicity

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 March 2012, 03:49 GMT]
Maya Arulpragasam (popularly known as MIA), the Jaffna born music phenom, created unexpected world-wide publicity for the Channel-4's recently released documentary on Sri Lanka's war-crimes when she entered a tweet debate with CNN's Anderson Cooper when she tweeted her followers suggesting "they also tune in," and then singled out Cooper, tweeting, "someone should make @andersoncooper watch it / film it and show the world what happens when respected journos get it wrong #killingfields." In her following tweet, she said that Cooper had called her "a terrorist for speaking out."
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MIA's album-release grabs US headlines

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 July 2010, 10:24 GMT]
Washington Post called Jaffna born music phenom, Maya Arulpragasam (popularly known as MIA) the "most innovative and dynamic pop star of her generation" as it covered the story of MIA's release of her third album "Maya" Tuesday. The British Guardian, writing about the British singer's popularity before the release of her album said that "she speaks out in support of Tamil citizens," and that "[h]er assertions that the Sri Lankan government is guilty of the genocide of local Tamils have not been going down well."
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MIA: I speak for my people

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 June 2010, 01:13 GMT]
Calling the Jaffna born music phenom, Maya Arulpragasam (popularly known as MIA), "the most provocative pop star of her age," the British Guardian, writing about the singer's popularity before the release of her third album "Born Free" in July, said that "she speaks out in support of Tamil citizens," and that "[h]er assertions that the Sri Lankan government is guilty of the genocide of local Tamils have not been going down well. She's even been accused of supporting the LTTE..." Earlier this month story of her confrontation with New York Times for misrepresenting MIA's quotes was a popular story on major news media and noted websites that cover music.
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NYT corrects journalistic "error" on MIA article

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 June 2010, 03:46 GMT]
New York Times (NYT) in a correction published Thursday admitted that NYT journlalist Lynn Hirschberg used quotes from an interview with Jaffna born music phenom Maya Arulpragasam (known by popular name MIA) out of context to misrepresent her views on the Tamil conflict. Hirschberg also wrote "Maya taps into her rage at the persecution of Tamils in Sri Lanka to espouse violence," pointing to Maya's lyrics "You wanna win a war?/Like P.L.O. I don’t surrender.” A media outlet commented "within the context of the song, there’s no way to interpret the lyrics this way, unless you’re coming into it with a certain agenda."
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MIA spreads genocide message through video, album

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 May 2010, 17:15 GMT]
In a recent release of a video called "Born Free" containing "a hyper-violent mini-film" as a pre-release to her forthcoming album to be released on June 29, Oscar and Grammy award nominee, Eezham born music phenom, Maya Arulpragasam (MIA) expresses her sympathy for genocide victims with the powerful imagery of her video. YouTube yanked her video Tuesday, triggering an avalanche of publicity, including a detailed narrative of MIA's album that appeared in the weekend edition of the Washington Post, MTV, and Los Angeles Times among other media outlets.
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CNN interview censored for using G-word - MIA

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 June 2009, 04:20 GMT]
In an interview with Los Angeles Times magazine, published 20th June, Maya Arulpragasam (M.I.A), the Jaffna born music phenom, disclosed that CNN, after interviewing her for an hour, broadcast only a one-minute-segment reasoning that MIA had used the word "Genocide" in describing the killings of the widely reported 20,000 Tamil civilians by Sri Lanka Government security forces during the 16-weeks leading up to 18th May.
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300,000 Tamils in concentration camps - MIA

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 June 2009, 12:25 GMT]
Oscar and Grammy award nominee, Jaffna born music phenom, Maya Arulpragasam (MIA) who used to live in Sri Lanka and experienced the war, told Sky News: "Three hundred thousand people have been put into concentration camps and they (the authorities) have taken all the rights away from these people. They have no food and access to the media and aid. No freedom of speech or freedom of press," and said Britain and international governments should step in and help. MIA was speaking in support of Ms Jananayagam who contested the European Parliament elections held Thursday. The results are expected to be released Sunday.
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MIA's endorsement expected to boost Jananayagam's MEP prospects

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 June 2009, 02:07 GMT]
Oscar and Grammy award nominee, Eezham born music phenom, Maya Arulpragasam (MIA), offered a free song, and has initiated an online campaign appealing to British voters to elect Ms Janani (Jan) Jananayagam, a Jaffna born young banking professional, as a Member of European Parliament (MEP) in the June 4th elections. "Vote to Jan could save 300,000 [Tamil] people [in Sri Lanka]," MIA's entry in Myspace, and a linked twitter message said. Ms. Jananayagam is contesting the London electoral region as an independent candidate, and MIA's support is expected to convince young British fans to exercise their votes, a campaign organizer said.
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Potent Tamil voice for European Parliament

[TamilNet, Sunday, 31 May 2009, 01:44 GMT]
June 4th elections will determine if Tamils in the London electoral region have the political muscle, organizational acumen and seasoned campaigning skills to attract broader British voters to elect Ms Janani (Jan) Jananayagam, a British, French educated young professional, who is contesting as an Independent candidate to the European Parliament. Ms. Jananayagam’s educational credentials, demonstrated communications skills, and a deftly constructed election platform centered on civil rights, financial transparency, and equality and diversity, will appeal to a broad section of British public and other immigrant groups besides the Tamil community, political observers in London say.
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MIA draws Oprah's attention to Sri Lanka bombing of safe zone

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 May 2009, 10:42 GMT]
Oscar and Grammy award nominee, Eezham born music phenom, Maya Arulpragasam (MIA), after meeting the popular talk-show host Oprah Winfrey at a gala at Lincoln Center in celebration of the most influential people list the Time magazine produced, drew Oprah's attention to Sri Lanka Government's bombing of civilian camps inside the safe zone in MIA's face book.
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British celebrities, MPs endorse Mercy Mission to Vanni

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 April 2009, 05:34 GMT]
A global appeal event for the "Mercy Mission," a ship carrying relief and medical supplies to Vanni, was held Tuesday at the Royal Horseguards, UK, attended by several British Members of Parliament, celebrities to raise awareness of the humanitarian situation in Sri Lanka to the public, organizers of the event said. The event was sponsored by "Act Now" and several Tamil charities. A petition addressed to the President of Sri Lanka was signed by the attending MPs and other celebrities, and the organizers said that the petition will be circulated to political leaders and other celebrities in US, Europe, Canada and Australia before the petition is sent to Colombo.
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CNN edits out Genocide charges against Sri Lanka, complains M.I.A

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 February 2009, 04:54 GMT]
Oscar and Grammy award nominee, Eezham born music phenom, Maya Arulpragasam, uses "her fame to shed light on a growing international conflict" CNN says in its website. During an interview with CNN's Kareen Wynter, Friday, pointing an accusing finger at the Government of Sri Lanka for killing Tamil civilians, Maya says, "Tamils who are a bunch of people in Sri Lanka, are being wiped out; I am one of those people who made it out. My school got bombed, people in my village are getting killed," and adds that she needs music to get all this information out. Reliable sources told TamilNet that the singer accused CNN for editing out her references to Sri Lanka's Genocide, and for attempting to associate her music with violence.
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Maya tells of Sri Lanka Genocide to U.S., world fans

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 January 2009, 13:00 GMT]
Oscar and Grammy award nominee, Eezham born music phenom, Maya Arulpragasam, in the PBS interview on Tavis Smiley show Thursday told the U.S. listeners and fans worldwide that "there's been a systematic genocide which has quiet thing because no one knows where Sri Lanka is. And now it's just escalated to the point there's 350,000 people who are stuck in a battle zone and can't get out, and aid's banned and humanitarian organizations are banned, journalists are banned from telling the story."
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World oblivious to Sri Lanka's genocide of Tamils, says music phenom M.I.A

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 January 2009, 04:06 GMT]
Maya Arulpragasam, better known by her stage name M.I.A, a British born Tamil and recent U.S. Grammy nominee, reveals that her music was shaped by her experience as a Tamil refugee from Sri Lanka, and accuses the International Community for standing idle as Colombo perpetrates acts of genocide against Tamils in Sri Lanka's NorthEast. In her interview to an Indian website, Maya adds: "[P]eople need to learn that you cannot wipe out a whole [Tamil] race."
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