Words by Xavier Farrow-Francis (any/all)
In this special edition of Groove Garden, we wanted to celebrate a number of fantastic immigrant artists who use their platform to discuss their experiences as refugees and/or immigrants. Perhaps one of the most important examples of this in the mainstream comes in the form of M.I.A. The daughter of a Tamil activist, Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam relocated to London from Sri Lanka when she was 11. Inspired by pop & hip-hop music of Madonna and Wu-Tang Clan—as well as her experience as a refugee in a largely white community—she began uploading her music online, which eventually caught the attention of XL Recordings.
Early tracks like “Bucky Done Gun” and “Sunshowers” contain cheeky clapbacks at microaggressions, and nuanced references towards revolution. And then there was “Paper Planes”: Maya’s signature song, which actively satirises stereotypes surrounding immigrants. M.I.A. has continued to discuss these topics vocally in her music to this day. While Maya is an incredibly influential figure in immigrant art, I feel it’s important to note that some of her worldviews in recent years have been rather eyebrow-raising. She went from protesting information politics and the media’s ignorant representation of Sri Lanka while it was in the midst of a destructive civil war, to spouting anti-vax rhetoric and creating a “conspiracy-friendly” fashion line which she spoke about with Alex Jones, host of far-right conspiracy site InfoWars.
Fundamentally, I think M.I.A. feels a need to question everything around her. She’s spoken up about a number of important issues when no one else was over the years, and that’s worth something. If you want to learn more about M.I.A., I highly recommend checking out her documentary Matangi/Maya/M.I.A., or watching paper boyfriend’s YouTube retrospective on her ambitious /\/\ /\ Y /\ album.
Taking an opportunity to spotlight an artist from Aotearoa, Diggy Dupé has been using his breezy and cazh raps to tell the story of Polynesian migrants since 2017. Hailing from Grey Lynn in Tāmaki Makaurau, it’s clear that Diggy’s location and Māori-Niuean heritage is his main source of inspiration. He’s incredibly proud of where he comes from, and wants his listeners to be too. Across his 4 projects (as well as the soundtrack to the 2021 miniseries The Panthers), Diggy channels his background into universal stories of life, pride and resilience; a track like “Keke Boy” is a perfect example of this.
Throughout his album That’s Me, That’s Team, he explores all of this and more, tapping into the rougher aspects of life on “CT&T”, or reiterating the importance of migrants being able to build community on foreign soil on a track like “That’s Team”. Though his music may be written from personal experiences, he says “it’s bigger than [Central Auckland], it’s bigger than Grey Lynn—it’s about tapping into human emotion and things you can relate to.”
To close off, we wanna point you in the direction of Dutch-Iranian singer, songwriter, producer, and artist Sevdaliza, who since first emerging in 2015 immediately began forging her own path in music. Her first album ISON explored themes of identity, the self, and womanhood in a poetic manner, calling back to trip hop acts like Portishead through her slick and spacious instrumentals. Sevdaliza would begin discussing her experience as an immigrant in respective songs, such as the track “Shahmaran”, which featured a music video that complexly explored themes of oppression, or on “Bebin”, a song protesting then-President Trump’s immigration ban, sung in her Farsi mother tongue.
These themes would become louder and more frequent in her music over the years. “Oh My God” was written entirely about her experience as an immigrant and how it manifested in herself, and she later released “Woman Life Freedom”, a track in solidarity with Iranian women protesting the mandatory hijab law. Recently, Sevda has gained traction from her viral tracks “Ride or Die Pt. 2” and “Alibi”, which both express strength in communion and femininity: themes that have clearly been present for Sevda for quite some time. It’s extremely exciting to see such an outspoken artist with a background like Sevdaliza’s gaining success like this… made all the more impressive when considering she’s entirely independent from a record label!
Commentaires