M.I.A review at the Enmore Theatre
MIA
Enmore Theatre, 29 October
★★★★
The weather is nice, then there’s leaning against a stage barrier, biting the cap of a pen, spitting, signing a book, and then casually lighting a cigarette for a fan; All this is done while singing. It helps the piece to be, GalangIt has a cutting-edge, genre-bending sound that was as cutting edge as it was when it was released in 2004, a pre-release era when file-sharing sites made unknown music from every corner of the world publicly available.
Born in London to Sri Lankan Tamil parents, rapper, singer, producer, activist and former art school student Mathangi Arulpragasam (personally known as Maya, professionally known as MIA) is not only way cooler than most, but has also made a career of making world music-influenced dance artists that sound unique even decades later.
MIA has had a much cooler career than most. Credit: Ashley Mar
This fact is made abundantly clear as MIA opens with the first three tracks from the high-water mark 2007 LP. Kala, benefit from everything Examples of Bollywood to African people. this run culminates in a world beat/dancehall hybrid Boyzreminding us that MIA’s musical magpie tendencies result in a unique sonic identity that is often copied but never bettered.
Surrounded by long-haired dancers in tiger-print jumpsuits and laser-firing pillars, MIA rips through a series of hip-shaking crowd-pleasers: reggae meets EDM Double Bubble Problem; Krautrock is going nuclear Born Free; and viral TikTok hit Bad GirlsThis kicks the crowd’s excitement into overdrive.
Loading
No stranger to speaking her mind and courting controversy — she’s done everything from getting sued by the NFL for wearing the bird while performing with Madonna at the Super Bowl to recently appearing on far-right commentator Alex Jones’ show — MIA maintains her brand by keeping her onstage banter largely political. Julian Assange receives applause, as does audience members attending the recent pro-Palestinian protests in Sydney.
It’s a nice touch to see him take a moment to talk about each of his albums before signing vinyl copies and throwing them into the crowd, but the best gift is saved for last, with 2008’s timeless lunacy. Paper Airplanes. Packed with iconic gunshot and cash register sound effects, It’s a track that has the power to make you feel as cool as ice for a moment as much as MIA herself, an artist whose impressive music catalog has aged as much as she has.
