She's done this completely fab version of "Jimmy Aaja," one of my favorite Indian disco songs from the '80s. That's right, the '80s. Indian disco was awesome. It came much later than the rest of the world and featured the pingy sitar samples that Western music used for 1960s rock ("Norwegian Wood," for ex.)
Indian disco was also hilarious because it was nonsensical, as much disco is. It also featured stars such as Rishi Kapoor and Mithun Chakraborty pretending to be cool and dancing, but in reality they were just strutting around and stuff. No John Travolta or MJ-type moves here, unfortunately, although Mithun came close.
Anyway, back to M.I.A. Her new album sounds ok--I've heard some of the songs. I can't say that I like all her songs, but "Bucky Done Gun" and "Paper Planes" (from the new album) as well as "Jimmy" are pretty good. I just love Jimmy (particularly the video) because it's so funky and fun, and she really taps the ridiculousness and absurdity of disco. Don't get me wrong, I love disco but it was crazy! As much of music is anyway. But that's a different point.
I particularly love the cheesy gold outfit she wears and her lazy, high-pitched "chicken squawk" (as it was referred to in an MTV review), because it contrasts really well with the original song, sung by a high-pitched female vocal. The contrast is jarring but great.
In the beginning, she raps, "Can we go Rwanda Congo, take me on your genocide tour..." which I guess is supposed to be her political statement about how violence is caused by men and how men are dominant etc. But beyond the first few words about violence in Africa, she sings a story about pleading for love from "Jimmy" (who I guess represents all men). The rest of the lyrics aren't particularly inspired, but the song is definitely fun to listen to.
Check out the video, too, especially the little dancing digitized stick figures (hilarious!). Here it is.
