Singer barred from US entry
Published: Thursday, 25 May, 2006, 11:08 AM Doha Time
LONDON: London rapper M.I.A. has been barred from entering America because of controversial lyrics on her critically acclaimed album.
Maya Arulpragasam, 28, the west London MC who was a refugee from Sri Lanka, is seen as one of the capital’s biggest urban music talents.
But her plan to work with some of America’s top hip-hop producers has been blocked because US Immigration has refused her a visa. On her website blog she tells fans: "Roger, roger do you hear me, over? The US Immigration won’t let me in," before asking her fans to "spread the word" on the Internet and support her.
Her debut album Arular – nominated for last year’s Mercury Music prize – is named after her father, a guerrilla fighter for the Tamil Tigers, the group which has waged a 30-year campaign of terror attacks against the Sri Lankan armed forces.
But the uncompromising tone of her music, which features bomb blasts and lyrics about revolution, has upset the US authorities, even though she had already toured in America.
An employee at her record company, XL Recordings, said she was denied entry because of lyrics which glorify the Tigers’ cause.
He said: "Maya has never shied away from saying what she thinks and her music is no exception.
"Her second single, Sunshowers, tells the story about a suicide bomber in Sri Lanka and also has the words, ‘Like the PLO, I don’t surrender’.
"The lyrics got her video banned on MTV in America. Now the refusal to let her go to the US to work with the likes of Missy Elliott, Timbaland and Kanye West will really set back her career."
Lawyers for XL Recordings are devising a strategy to get her visa approved.
The employee added: "The message at the record company is ‘We must get her in’.
"If she loses out on the American market and misses her chance to work with the global superstars of hip-hop it will be like throwing millions of pounds down the drain."
The US High Commission said it could not comment on individual cases.
Maya was born in Bermondsey. Her family moved back to Sri Lanka but fled again when she was 11. – London Evening Standard