From Sri Lanka youth turned off by Oscar-nominated rapper's war views
She's the songbird of the hit movie "Slumdog Millionaire" but in her native Sri Lanka suspicions about Oscar-nominated hip-hop star M.I.A.'s political sympathies have cost her success and fans.
Born in Britain to Sri Lankan parents -- both ethnic Tamils -- the 32-year-old rapper, whose real name is Mathangi Arulpragasam, grew up in the island's conflict-ridden north.
It's an experience she has said informs her music and she is unapologetic about her outspoken condemnation of the atrocities that have taken place during more than three decades of civil war.
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While the accolades flood in, however, she said in a recent interview with www.dailybeast.com that her current focus is not on awards but on the Tamil struggle for a separate homeland in Sri Lanka.
Her father is said to have been a Tamil militant linked to a group known for its bombing campaign in the capital Colombo in the mid 1980s.
The Tigers' 37 years of armed struggle is said by the government to be nearing an end with security forces on the verge of crushing the rebels, who are now coralled in a narrow jungle strip in the island's northeast.
Arulpragasam, in her interview with the US-based website, described the current situation as one of "systematic genocide and ethnic cleansing".
"I actually come from there and the fact is that this is happening now," she is quoted as saying.
"I lived in Sri Lanka when the campaign for ethnic cleansing started and if I could stop it and see the end of it in my lifetime that would be amazing. I can't justify my success otherwise."
Such comments have not endeared her to parts of Sri Lanka's majority Sinhalese community, with some people accusing her of sympathising with the Tigers -- branded a terrorist organisation by the European Union and the US.
The music video of her song "Bird Flu" shows children dancing in front of what looks like the Tamil Tiger insignia of a roaring tiger. ...
M.I.A - Interview
An extract from Specialten DVD Magazine issue #20.
Interview in full appears on Specialten Magazine issue #20.
www.specialten.com
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