Arular is the 2005 debut album by British musician M.I.A. It was
released in the US on 22 March 2005 and a month later in the UK, where
it had a slightly different track listing. The album's release was
preceded in 2004 by two singles and a mixtape. M.I.A. wrote or co-wrote
all the songs on the album and created the basic backing tracks using a
Roland MC-505 sequencer/drum machine given to her by long-time friend
Justine Frischmann. Collaborators included Switch, Diplo, and Richard
X. The album's title is the political code name used by her father,
Arul Pragasam, during his involvement with Sri Lankan Tamil militant
groups, and themes of conflict and revolution feature heavily in the
lyrics and artwork. Musically, the album incorporates styles that range
from hip hop and electroclash to funk carioca and punk rock. Arular was
hailed by critics for its blending of styles and integration of
political lyrics into dance tunes. Several publications named it as one
of the best albums of the year, and by mid-2007, the album had sold
129,000 copies in the US. Arular spawned the singles "Sunshowers",
"Bucky Done Gun" and "Galang", which was released twice.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arular>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1523:
Gustav Vasa became King of Sweden, marking the end of the Kalmar Union.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_I_of_Sweden>
1894:
Colorado Governor Davis Hanson Waite ordered his state militia to
protect and support the miners engaged in the Cripple Creek miners'
strike.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cripple_Creek_miners%27_strike_of_1894>
1944:
World War II: The Invasion of Normandy, the largest amphibious military
operation in history, began with Allied troops landing on the beaches
of Normandy in France .
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normandy_landings>
1982:
During the Falklands War, the British Royal Navy Type 42 destroyer
HMS Cardiff engaged and destroyed British Army Gazelle XX377 in a
friendly fire incident.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1982_British_Army_Gazelle_friendly_fire_incident>
2004:
During a joint sitting of both houses of the Indian Parliament,
President of India A. P. J. Abdul Kalam announced that Tamil was to be
made the first legally recognised classical language of India.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil_language>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
repurpose (v):
To make (something) fit for a new purpose; to adapt for use in a
different way
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/repurpose>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
I will keep faith with death in my heart, yet will remember that faith
with death and the dead is only wickedness and dark voluptuousness and
enmity against humankind, if it is given power over our thought and
contemplation. For the sake of goodness and love, man shall let death
have no sovereignty over his thoughts. And with that, I wake up.
--Thomas Mann
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Mann>