Congress has cut federal funding for public media — a $3.4 million loss for LAist. We count on readers like you to protect our nonprofit newsroom. Become a monthly member and sustain local journalism.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
Video: Madame Gandhi Talks About The Intersection Of Music And Feminism
Madame Gandhi performs during Global Citizen's 'Show Up and Vote' concert at the World Market Center on October 25, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by David Becker/Getty Images for Global Citizen)
()
Kiran Gandhi, otherwise known by her stage name Madame Gandhi, is a musician and activist. She lives in L.A., and first came to prominence as the drummer for M.I.A. In a new short film, she discusses how she approaches songwriting, how she advocates for feminism through songwriting, and choosing a wardrobe that prioritizes "self-expression" over beauty. "My passions have always been the same since childhood. I've always loved music and I've always loved feminism," she says.
Gandhi still uses the same drum kit she received at 12 years old. In addition to her work with M.I.A., she has also produced her own music, releasing a five-song EP titled Voices in 2016. She discusses one track, "The Future is Female" in the film. "The lyrics are a direct commentary on the problems that I see today," she says, before quoting the song:
Fictitious depictions of girls must die out/If we want to live in a world that triumphs
I am just talking about loving the femme/I ain't talking bout nobody else
Toxic masculinity has to end/I am just talking about loving ourselves
She says she is inspired to create music randomly and often while in transit. She saves those ideas for when she is booking studio time with her co-collaborator, Alexia Riner.
Support for LAist comes from
Gandhi made headlines when she ran the 2015 London Marathon on the first day of her menstrual cycle sans tampon or pad, in an act known as "free-bleeding." She had trained for the marathon for a year and ultimately made the decision because "it would have been way too uncomfortable to worry about a tampon for 26.2 miles."
I thought, if there’s one person society won’t fuck with, it’s a marathon runner. If there’s one way to transcend oppression, it’s to run a marathon in whatever way you want. On the marathon course, sexism can be beaten. Where the stigma of a woman’s period is irrelevant, and we can re-write the rules as we choose. Where a woman’s comfort supersedes that of the observer. I ran with blood dripping down my legs for sisters who don’t have access to tampons and sisters who, despite cramping and pain, hide it away and pretend like it doesn’t exist. I ran to say, it does exist, and we overcome it every day. The marathon was radical and absurd and bloody in ways I couldn’t have imagined until the day of the race.
The video comes via filmmaker Matthew Kaundart, who has previously profiled L.A. personalities including L.A. historian Charles Phoenix, artist Jen Stark and Calder "The Cardboard Artist" Greenwood.
As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.
Simply put, we cannot do this essential work without your help. Federal funding for public media has been clawed back by Congress and that means LAist has lost $3.4 million in federal funding over the next two years. So we’re asking for your help. LAist has been there for you and we’re asking you to be here for us.
We rely on donations from readers like you to stay independent, which keeps our nonprofit newsroom strong and accountable to you.
No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, press freedom is at the core of keeping our nation free and fair. And as the landscape of free press changes, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust, but the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news from our community.
Please take action today to support your trusted source for local news with a donation that makes sense for your budget.
Thank you for your generous support and believing in independent news.
Chip in now to fund your local journalism
(
LAist
)
Trending on LAist
-
With less to prove than LA, the city is becoming a center of impressive culinary creativity. -
Nearly 470 sections of guardrailing were stolen in the last fiscal year in L.A. and Ventura counties.
-
Monarch butterflies are on a path to extinction, but there is a way to support them — and maybe see them in your own yard — by planting milkweed.
-
With California voters facing a decision on redistricting this November, Surf City is poised to join the brewing battle over Congressional voting districts.
-
The drug dealer, the last of five defendants to plead guilty to federal charges linked to the 'Friends' actor’s death, will face a maximum sentence of 65 years in prison.
-
The weather’s been a little different lately, with humidity, isolated rain and wind gusts throughout much of Southern California. What’s causing the late-summer bout of gray?
Best of LAist