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''Arular'' is the debut studio album by English-Sri Lankan recording artist M.I.A., released in the United States on 22 March 2005 and a month later in the United Kingdom with 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, Richard X and Ant Whiting. 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. It was nominated for the Mercury Prize in 2005 and was included in the 2005 edition of the book ''1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die''. Although it only reached number 98 on the UK Albums Chart and number 190 on the US ''Billboard'' 200, several publications named it as one of the best albums of the year. 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. ==Composition and recording== Before 2001, M.I.A. (Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam) had worked exclusively in the visual arts. While filming a documentary on Elastica's 2001 tour of the US, she was introduced to the Roland MC-505 sequencer/drum machine by electroclash artist Peaches, whose minimalistic approach to music inspired her. She found Peaches' decision to perform without additional instrumentation to be brave and liberating and felt that it emphasised the artist. Returning to London, she unexpectedly gained access to a 505 owned by her friend, former Elastica singer Justine Frischmann. M.I.A. used the 505 to make demo recordings in her bedroom. She initially planned to work as a producer. To this end, she approached Caribbean girls in clubs to see if they would provide vocals for the songs, but without success. M.I.A. secured a record deal with XL Recordings after Frischmann's manager overheard the demo. M.I.A. began work on the album by composing lyrics and melodies, and she programmed drum beats at home on the drum machine.〔 Having produced rough tracks via trial and error, she honed the finished songs in collaboration with other writer-producers.〔〔 Through these collaborations, she sought to produce a diverse style and "drag (collaborators ) out of their boxes, musically". DJ Diplo introduced elements of Brazilian baile funk to "Bucky Done Gun". Fellow composer-producer Richard X worked on the track "Hombre", which featured a drum pattern created from the sounds made by toys that M.I.A. had bought in India, augmented with sounds produced by objects such as pens and mobile phones. Steve Mackey and Ross Orton, known professionally as Cavemen, worked on "Galang", which M.I.A. had initially produced with her 505 and a basic four-track tape recorder. Working with Cavemen in a professional studio, she added a bass line and new vocals to give the song "a more analogue sound" than was possible with the 505.〔 The track was co-written by Frischmann, whose input M.I.A. described as "refreshing".〔 She initially hoped to feature guest vocalists on the album, but was unable to due to budget constraints and other artists' unfamiliarity with her work. She chose to perform all the vocals herself, saying, "I just quietly got on with it ... I didn't wanna convince anyone it was good. I felt it was much better to prove that I could be an individual." 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Arular」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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