MIA is to be the curator of this year’s Meltdown festival at the Southbank Centre in London. Despite having announced her retirement at least twice – once in 2008 and again last year when she said she planned to release her album and then quit music – she apparently remains very much unretired.
Each Meltdown festival is curated by a different artist, with a variety of shows and art events in the Southbank Centre’s venues. “For me, this Meltdown will be about putting on a musical week that shows different types of music which have inspired each other to exist,” MIA said. “Genres that support other genres, redefining the concept of a melting pot. Respect the history, don’t live in it. I plan to bring together music’s best forward-thinkers who have contributed to all our lives. When music acts as inspiration, it’s boundaryless.”
MIA released her fifth solo album, AIM, in September 2016. It peaked at No 63 on the UK chart and No 66 in the US. Despite never having been hugely commercially successful, she was named a defining person of the decade by Rolling Stone magazine in 2009, and as an influential person by Time and Esquire.
This year’s Meltdown will take place from Friday 9 June to Sunday 18 June.
The festival’s previous curators are:
1993 – George Benjamin
1994 – Louis Andriessen
1995 – Elvis Costello
1996 – Magnus Lindberg
1997 – Laurie Anderson
1998 – John Peel
1999 – Nick Cave
2000 – Scott Walker
2001 – Robert Wyatt
2002 – David Bowie
2003 – Lee “Scratch” Perry
2004 – Morrissey
2005 – Patti Smith
2006 – No event
2007 – Jarvis Cocker
2008 – Massive Attack
2009 - Ornette Coleman
2010 – Richard Thompson
2011 – Ray Davies
2012 – Anohni
2013 – Yoko Ono
2014 – James Lavelle
2015 – David Byrne
2016 – Guy Garvey
