Mathangi Arulpragasam (born 18 July 1975), better known by her stage name M.I.A., is an English rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and activist. Her stage name is wordplay on her name as well as a reference to the abbreviation for "missing in action". Her work combines elements of alternative, dance, electronic, hip hop, and world music.
Mathangi Arulpragasam was born on 18 July 1975[1] in Hounslow, London, the daughter of Arul Pragasam,[2] a Sri Lankan Tamil engineer, writer, and activist, and his wife, Kala, a seamstress. When she was six months old, her family moved to Jaffna in northern Sri Lanka, where her brother Sugu was born.[3] There, her father adopted the name Arular and became a political activist and founding member of the Eelam Revolutionary Organisation of Students (EROS), a political Tamil group affiliated with the LTTE. The first 11 years of Arulpragasam's life were marked by displacement caused by the Sri Lankan Civil War.[3] Her family went into hiding from the Sri Lankan Army, and Arulpragasam had little contact with her father during this period. She has described her family as living in "big-time" poverty during her childhood but also recalls some of her happiest memories from growing up in Jaffna.