M.I.A.

MIA

M.I.A. in 2008, photo by PrPhotos.com

Birth Name: Mathangi Arul Pragasam

Place of Birth: Hounslow, Middlesex, England, U.K.

Date of Birth: 17 July, 1975

Ethnicity: Tamil Sri Lankan

M.I.A. is a British rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, fashion designer, visual artist, director, model, photographer, and activist. She came to prominence through music file sharing over the internet in 2004.

M.I.A. is the daughter of Kala (Kathirithamby) and Arul Pragasam, “Arular,” an engineer, writer, and activist. Her parents are Tamil Sri Lankans, who were involved in the Tamil independence movement. Her father co-founded the Eelam Revolutionary Organisation of Students, EROS, in 1975 in Wadsworth, England; the group was affiliated with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

M.I.A. spent part of her childhood in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. Her name, M.I.A. (Missing in Action), is after a cousin, Janna, who went missing in Sri Lanka. M.I.A. has strong political views and voices them in her lyrics. Around 1986, her family returned to the U.K., where they were housed as refugees.

M.I.A. has a son with her former partner, Benjamin Bronfman, an environmentalist, who founded the Green Owl record label (his sister is DJ, model, and entrepreneur Hannah Bronfman).

Source: http://www.rollingstone.com

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42 Responses

  1. Deutschland9France says:

    She’s beautiful. Lol

  2. Mixed Kidd says:

    I never knew she was Sri Lankan, not a lot of Sri Lankan artists that are on here, I’ve always thought she was a black British when I first heard her song Paper Planes.

  3. sarahle says:

    she was engaged to Benjamin Zachary Bronfman who is of African-American and Ashkenazi Jewish Background.
    She gave birth to a Son, who makes him Tamil on his mothers side and African-American/Ashkenazi Jewish on his fathers side.

    M.I.A, Ben Bronfman & Son
    http://msdramatv.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/fp_5389579_mia_letterman_cjny_071310.jpg

  4. Kiara says:

    son , i’ve heard about MIA and didn’t know what she looked like until today and whole time i thought she was Black ;o

  5. Nathalie says:

    Alright. Someone needs to tell me what is Sri Lankan because I’m very confused about what this debate of MIA’s ethnicity is about. are Sri Lankans different genetically from the Indian diaspora from India?

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