Bird Flu

"Bird Flu" is a song by British recording artist M.I.A. from her second studio album Kala (2007). It was released on 23 November 2006 through XL Recordings and Interscope Records. Critics noted its autobiographical lyrics "updated to the present day, where she's straddling the line between major-label success and her own crazy-ass major-label-bucking tendencies, singing she's too cool "to be a Rocawear model," adding that she could not be a "rocker on a label" because her "beats were too evil." Also praised was the song's utilization of the folk urumee melam/gaana and dappankuthu music, Tamil genres of music that the writer was familiar with having grown up in Jaffna.

Arulpragasam recorded the song using live drummers from temples in Chennai. M.I.A. wanted to work with Tamil folk music as it gave her a sense of rhythm as a child and she wanted to draw certain aspects from Indian music that Western audiences had not heard before.